The Ultimate High School Survival Guide

Ethan Cho | August 25, 2022

Illustration courtesy: Yeonjae Lee

High school isn’t all about work and studying: it’s also about having fun! Exploring a hobby is one of the best stress relievers. Drawing, playing games, collecting figure-find anything that makes you calm and happy. This should also be something not reserved for school, nor for college: solely for you. Something that helps maintain your mental health, and prevents you from falling into a dark spiral of stress. If you can balance school and fun, your life will be more meaningful.

Our high school has countless clubs—so many it may seem overwhelming! There’s no doubt that there’s something for everyone, whether sports, service, academics, or even card games. Flip to page 8 for an overview of this year’s HS clubs. The possibilities are endless, so it’s important that you take advantage of these opportunities. In freshman year, join many clubs that interest you. It’s important that you experiment with your interests early

in high school so that you can recognize which clubs to dedicate your time to for the next three years. But with great freedom and power also come great responsibility: understand your limits, and find a comfortable number of clubs for yourself.

As an IB student, “risk-taker” may be familiar to you. To approach uncertainty with forethought and determination is crucial to your high school years. With college and adulthood a few steps away, it’s crucial to take risks to explore who you are. What are your passions? What kind of person do you want to be? Take that course, try exploring an unfamiliar topic, or even talk to that scary upperclassman! You can’t unlock your full potential without challenging yourself and stepping out of your comfort zone. Be a Risk Taker.

Notion is an extremely versatile resource, used for pretty much anything. Many students use the multi-platform app to plan events, save documents, and organize projects. But one of the biggest selling points of Notion is its customization capability. You can organize documents and planners in any way you like, by adding tables, text, and even images! All of these make studying far more tolerable, as you can work in an environment catered to your preferences.

Quizlet is an amazing resource to review material. It has countless public sets and features to create your own flashcard sets. It’s important to synthesize your notes into a format suitable for review, and in a way you can understand, which is why Quizlet is so useful. Flashcards also make you employ active recall—making your brain work while reviewing—which is far more effective than passively read- ing and memorizing written notes. One can even make studying fun through mini-games like Gravity, Match, and Quizlet Live.

In high school, Google Calendar is your best friend. It’s a crucial component of effective time management and a must-need for all of us, as we juggle schoolwork and extracurriculars. Through Google Calendar, you can note important dates like deadlines and events and set up meetings with teachers and counselors' calendars like the 12-Day Schedule, Public HS Events, and importantly, your grade’s Assessment Calendar (available on the HS counseling website). Always check your Assessment Calendar for deadlines

and test dates.

Having a daily routine is essential for both your mental and physical health. Placing yourself in a healthy, regular lifestyle can make your every day a lot easier in that they set a “foundation for your life”, as having these pre-existing habits set in place allow your body and brain to know exactly when to function in a certain way. A healthy habit could be sleeping at a reasonable time every night, giving your body and brain enough time to recover. Other habits include eat- ing breakfast, studying at a certain time, and drink- ing water. You’ll know you’ve formed a habit once you’ve realized it’s become an unnoticeable, yet necessary part of your life.

The tips above apply to many, but there’s no guarantee they work for you. It’s important to try many methods to manage your high school life and find the one that works best for you. Find ways on the internet. Ask upperclassmen about what they did. It’s important to discover methods that work for you early on, so you can utilize those techniques throughout your high school journey. As a freshie reading this survival guide you may feel overwhelmed. But understand that high school isn’t all about studying and preparing for the future. It’s also a very fun place where you’re supplied with freedom and many opportunities. Although at times high school will be stressful, you can still make it the best four years of your life.