Hey juniors, have you heard all those rumors about 11th grade being actually impossible, about how students have been literally buried alive under homework and how parental nags to check out colleges have permanently pierced and damaged eardrums? Well, those rumors are true (nearly).
However, with some simple knowledge and a determined attitude, juniors can conquer this feared grade and come out on top. Here are five things juniors can use to survive junior year.
1) If you fail a test, you won’t fail life
In some cultures, your future, family, occupation, and overall life quality is decided through a series of standardized tests. Filling in those bubbles may be the most important, possibly the most disastrous decisions of your life. Thankfully, that isn’t the way things work here at Central. Yes, grades and test scores are important. But no, the SATs and ACTs will not decide the outcome of your life. Sometimes the best solution to junior year stress is to just go with the flow.
2) Don’t become a zombie
You’ve all been there in class when the teacher announces that today is a video day. The only problem is that it’s an informative documentary. Plus, it has been outdated for 30 years, and the teacher is handing out a notes sheet. A simple solution to avoid the inevitable drowsiness is to sleep, sleep, and sleep. Put the coffee down at night. Go to bed.
3) No premature “senioritis”
While seniors will be driving to school at the last possible minute and enjoying their year as the kings and queens of the school, you will be inside the library cramming for AP tests or frantically scrolling through vocabulary on Quizlet. Your hair may be frazzled and the jolt of coffee may be still waking you up, but on the bright side you will have the satisfaction of knowing that in one year you can chill out and wear a toga. But for now, make sure to focus on being a junior. Take it one day at a time and before you know it you will be a senior.
4) Get organized
If you don’t want to be up at midnight scavenging your bedroom for some lost United States History notes or packet of chemistry formulas the night before finals, then get organized. Create an organizational system—whether it is dockets or three ring binders—and stick with it.
5) Don’t do everything
There was once an overachieving junior who tried to do everything. After a while, he disappeared. A couple of weeks later, they found his feet at a Habitat for Humanity meeting, his torso at an ACE charity event, his head at a math team competition, and his hands frantically trying to volunteer and do homework at the same time. By trying to be a super junior and do everything, he physically destroyed himself. As much as we’d all like to maintain perfect grades while being the president of a club, competing in a couple of varsity sports, volunteering every other day and working for extra cash, it simply isn’t healthy or possible to do everything. Find your true passions or priorities and commit your valuable time to those activities.
