Whether we’re talking strong muscles or strong minds, striving for excellence requires consistency, perseverance, grit, and good ole’ fashioned hard work! With Thanksgiving only six weeks away, high school students across the country are working diligently to earn top grades and strong test scores that will help them develop competitive college profiles. In other words, working to maintain their academic excellence as they close out the fall semester. And, if you’re a current senior, your fall grades MATTER in the admissions process, even if you applied early!
HOW TO MAINTAIN YOUR ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
With such hectic schedules, it’s easy to lag behind, lose motivation, or simply forget about important deadlines and long-term goals. Below, we’ve provided a few reminders to ensure that you end fall semester on a high note.
1. Stay Organized. Even the best students struggle at times to remain organized and manage their time wisely. There are multiple options available to help you remain on top of your studies and schedule, detailed in our post, “Top Tips for Organization and Time Management.” Whether you elect to use a planner (electronic or paper), aim to avoid procrastination and work on projects or study in a timely manner, utilize the Pomodoro® Technique or work one-on-one with a Top Tier counselor in our Organization and Time Management tutoring program, balancing your studies along with your family time and social life, can feel like a full time job. Find the strategies that work for you to ensure a successful fall semester and year!
Academic Tutoring
Our tutors offer customized tutoring designed to fit the needs of each student.
2. Plan for academic success. It’s not enough to enroll in rigorous classes — you also need to excel in them. You can plan for success by trying to anticipate the challenges you might face. If your teacher offers a syllabus, review it regularly to see what major projects lie ahead. If you have a textbook, skim the upcoming chapters to see what material you’ll be covering over the next few weeks.
If you know a class is likely to be challenging, this is also a great time to develop a strong support system. You might consider setting up meetings with your teacher to talk over assignments, taking advantage of extra help appointments and study sessions, or getting a tutor to work with you on challenging course material. Top Tier’s math and foreign language tutors, for example, can help students understand complex concepts, while our writing tutors help students improve their prose and develop plans to tackle major writing projects.
Writing Guidance Program
Targeted help with academic writing projects to help our students succeed at every stage of the writing process.
3. Register for standardized testing. October is PSAT season! Juniors can use this test to qualify for National Merit but we encourage sophomores to sit for the PSAT as well if it’s offered at their school. Taking the PSAT early in high school gives you experience with a lengthy standardized test, helping you to prepare to take the SAT or ACT down the road. If you do well on the PSAT, it can also give you a score to report on your summer applications, helping you stand out in a competitive applicant pool. Since your PSAT scores are not reported on your college applications, there also is no risk to taking the test — it can only help you! And then of course, there is the SAT and the ACT. Even with many schools maintaining their test-optional policies, strong scores on these tests set you apart from other applicants on a national level. Having high scores will help provide an extra data point in your favor for admissions officers to review.
4. Start preparing for your AP exams NOW. AP exams won’t occur until the spring, but smart students won’t wait until then to begin preparing. If you are planning to take AP exams, we encourage you to get AP prep books now and begin working through them in conjunction with your course material. This will not only help you keep the AP exam in mind throughout the year, but also let you know if there is any material that your teacher skips. Take a look at our recent blog post on AP prep to which official and unofficial resources our AP tutors recommend.
*TTA TOP TIP: AP exams are typically ordered in October so confirm your school has ordered each of your AP exams that you wish to take!
AP Exam Tutoring
Our tutors offer customized tutoring designed to fit the needs of each student.
5. Keep an eye on summer deadlines. It might feel like summer just ended, but application deadlines for next summer’s programs are almost upon us! Some programs (like the Navy’s Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program) are already open for 2023 applicants, while others will open as early as October and November. If you are interested in competitive programs, it pays to start thinking now about what you might like to do next summer. If you need help figuring out where to apply, feel free to reach out to us for help!
ONE FINAL TIP
Push to take rigorous classes. Though you’re nearing the close of fall semester, it’s key to ensure you take the most rigorous classes available each semester (especially if you are targeting top schools), as long as you feel confident that you can maintain good grades and feel you have the proper support system in place to maintain these grades (tutoring, extra help, peer study sessions, etc.)
If you’re a strong student who has not been placed in honors or AP courses, now is the time to advocate for yourself! Talk to your counselor to see if you might be able to switch to a more demanding class for the remainder of the year. Can you petition the English Department to take AP Literature or test into a higher-level math class? What about an extra AP-level elective in the spring? The start of the school year is the time to take these actions, before you have missed too much course material. Next year, be ready!
Freshman year is a pivotal moment in your college admissions journey to ensure you’re on the right trajectory based on your college admissions goals. We begin working one-on-one with students in eighth grade in our highly personalized, white-glove Private Counseling Program. Work with the most trusted team in college admissions and know you’ll always have an expert in your corner!
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