Welcome back everyone!

Before this school year, I had never been an official tutor before. I had always tried to be helpful with my classmates and friends if I understood a topic that they were struggling with; I would be happy to answer their questions and explain the concept until they had a better understanding of it. However, I hadn’t had the actual job/position of helping someone in a certain subject specifically- I had always wanted to though. That’s why I volunteered to be a tutor during at least one lunch period a week in my school’s History Center. I haven’t been doing it for very long, but it’s already been very rewarding.

In middle school, history was sometimes my favorite subject, and sometimes boring (it depended on the teacher). Freshman year, I took AP human geography, and although it’s not a traditional history class, it’s still under the umbrella of history- I found it fascinating. My human geo teacher runs the History Center, so when he started looking for tutors, I knew I wanted to sign up; he’s also the funniest person ever and I really miss him as a teacher, so that’s a bonus.

When I had my first tutoring session, I was pretty nervous; it was someone in my grade, which I didn’t expect. I thought I would mainly be helping freshmen. However, it actually went really well and I was able to help the person. It felt so good to know someone actually learned something from me, and it helped that I actually love to explain history-related stuff. I find most of the things we cover so interesting, and the history department at my school has really intelligent and funny teachers.

Regardless, I’ve been inspired by these weekly tutoring sessions to do some more tutoring. I’ll now be tutoring in Spanish at the Language Center occasionally, and my English teacher recommended that I tutor in the Writing Center next year- only juniors and seniors are allowed, but she knows I love to write. I would also love to tutor some little kids outside of school, especially since the work is even easier to explain. I encourage you guys to go sign up and volunteer as a tutor for your favorite subject; I promise it will be worth it. I feel like it’s a learning experience on both ends.

As you guys know, I love to volunteer, so it’s nice to find another way to help others- especially my own peers. I’m not the best at explaining things off the bat, but I feel this is also an activity that will really improve my communication skills with people. I hope you guys take advantage of the tutoring resources you have if you’re in need of help with school, and that if you feel comfortable, you sign up to be a tutor yourself!

-Brooke

Welcome back everyone!

It’s October and football season is winding down, so what does that mean? It’s time for one of the best school events of the year: homecoming! This week was homecoming spirit week at my high school, and the day that you’ll be reading this is the night of the dance. I’ve mentioned in many of my posts that I am on the JV cheer team at my school, so our homecoming game was on Thursday, but the varsity game was Friday. For any of you freshmen out there, this is a little guide to having the best homecoming ever.

• Go to the dance in a group with all your friends – If you have a date, that’s awesome! However, I would still recommend going in a large group with all your friends so you can take pictures before and enhance the experience. I know lots of people at my school pitch in and get party buses with their friend groups if there’s a large amount of people- I’ve done it and it’s really fun.
• Dress up for the spirit week – It makes the events way more fun if you actually get into it and show your school spirit. I usually have to wear my cheer uniform since I’m a cheerleader, but I encourage all my friends to dress up. There’s usually fun themes and you can coordinate with your friends.
• Attend all the events!! – Obviously you don’t have to, but I would really recommend going to the rally, game, and dance, especially if you’re a freshman. You won’t know if it’s your thing until you try it! I’m usually not the most spirited person and I still think homecoming is super fun.
• Wear comfy shoes – If heels are comfortable for you, then go for it; I feel like for most people they’re not, so I would recommend wearing heels for pictures and then changing into flats or sneakers. I personally wore Vans to the dance and it was a lifesaver- it’s so crowded and you’ll be moving around and dancing, so it’s just easier that way.
• Organize somewhere to go afterwards – It will definitely be a late night out, but I think it’s so much more fun if you continue the fun afterwards. My friends and I went to IHOP last year, and this year we’re going to Denny’s afterwards, and it’s just fun because you’re probably going to be starving (there’s not really any food at our dance) and so you can stuff your face before you go home and crash.
• Get ready with friends – This makes any event more fun, but I think it’s especially good for a dance because you can all do each other’s hair/makeup, etc.
• Don’t stress about your appearance too much – In the end, everyone’s going to get sweaty and look disheveled after a few hours of dancing in a crowded gym/wherever you hold the dance. Obviously take pride in your apperance, but don’t worry about looking perfect.

Overall, the most important thing is to make the most of your homecoming experience and have fun. My homecoming week was the highlight of my freshman year, which is why I was so excited for it this year. I have faith that you all will have the best experiences ever!

-Brooke

Hello everyone!

This year I am taking AP European History as my history course, and there is a LOT of writing involved. Our main activities during class are listening to my teacher’s lectures and taking furious notes, practicing writing DBQs, and writing out long lists of terms for our study guides. Writing and AP classes are both time consuming on their own, so together… let’s just say I’ve spent many hours each week on writing assignments for this class. If you’re taking a similar course, this is the post for you!

• Break it up – This is crucial. I know we all love to procrastinate, but you CANNOT leave every paper/essay/huge assignment until the last minute in these classes, because there’s just too many assignments like that. I highly recommend working on these things every day for at least 20-30 minutes (more if you can!!), specifically covering the parts of the material that you discuss in class each day.
• Record lectures to give your hand a break sometimes – Hopefully your teacher allows this (mine does), but in these types of classes, especially history, a lot of information is covered; it can be very useful to record lectures so you don’t miss any minute details. You can also use these to take revised notes later.
• DO EXTRA CREDIT – I say this in every school advice post no matter what class it is, but in these types of classes it’s especially important. Writing is so subjective that you may not always be sure of how you’re doing in the class/what grades you’ll get on assignments- this is why extra credit may save you. It’s always nice to have the extra padding regardless.
• Mainly study formatting; otherwise, PRACTICE is your best bet for studying – If a lot of your grade is based on in-class essays and writing assignments, there’s not always a way to “study” for those. I recommend always looking over the format the night before and even right before you go to class so it’s fresh in your mind. Other than that, I would suggest you do as many practice writes as you have time for; I know that’s not always realistic timewise though.
• Use highlighters and make keys – This can really help you figure out what you’re actually writing and what you’re missing. My teacher makes us do this, and it helps so much. Use a bunch of different colored highlighters and make a key; break it up by thesis, evidence, important people/events, etc. Your strengths and weaknesses in your writing will come across much clearer this way, and you can easily see if you forget something.

The best thing you can do is to keep writing; the more you practice, the more you improve. These types of classes have a lot of time-consuming assignments, but as you get used to the pace it will be a lot easier to keep up (that’s what I keep telling myself!). Try to stay on top of the work and do your best, because that’s all you can do. If all else fails, write as much as you know and ask your teacher for help- they want you to succeed too!

-Brooke

Happy October everyone!

Time is flying by, which means we’re getting into the thick of fall semester. I don’t know about you guys, but my workload definitely continued to increase as the month of September went on. It’s also still football season which means cheer has been crazy, and I’m about to have my first yearbook deadline. Combine that with clubs starting up again, volunteering, and attempting to have a social life- yeah, it’s a lot. I’m sure a ton of you are in similar situations, so I wanted to talk about how we can all get through this!

• Block out a day on your calendar (preferably a weekend day) – The reason I say preferably a weekend day is because you’ll have more of the day free; this is key to getting things done but also having time to relax. This day can be your one day of relaxation, it can be your full day of social time with friends, it can be getting ahead on work so the next few days of school are more laid-back, it can be whatever you want. Just block it off as your time to decide for yourself what you want to do.
• Keep up with self-care – This is super important for your mental health!! Maintain good hygiene, take the time to eat proper meals, shower, etc. Use meditation apps or listen to music to relax before bed, and try to make your environment as relaxing as possible (i.e. light candles).
• Drop things you’re not enjoying – It goes without saying, but your schedule doesn’t have to be so jam-packed. If you realize there’s a commitment or two you have that you’re really not into anymore and are taking up tons of your time, see if you can drop/quit them. Obviously do this within reason (if you have one bad sports practice, don’t quit your sport for good), but this can be such a huge relief.
• Get a good sleep – Do not sacrifice sleep for studying and schoolwork. Budget your time so that you can get at least seven hours of sleep (I find nine is preferable for me) – you’ll perform so much better in school during the day, and you’ll feel so much better. I also read somewhere that the most successful students get a lot of sleep, so there’s that.

Remember during all those long nights of schoolwork and studying that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Do what you enjoy in your free time, and it will make it so much easier to continue working during school hours. Above all, prioritize your mental health and keep in mind that everything will work out, and we will get through this school year!

-Brooke

Hello everyone!

I know it can be tough to find helpful resources for school-related stuff; trust me, I have spent many hours Googling various things about everything from online AP classes to summer programs. Whether you’re a freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior, these websites will be able to benefit you!

• CollegeVine – Lots of great articles, especially since you can sort by different factors of relevance such as your grade.
• PrepScholar – Good articles, tend to give basic information but there’s some more helpful ones
• IvyWise – Similar to PrepScholar and CollegeVine
• College Confidential – Definitely approach this website with caution; the overachievers on this website are insane. However, it’s a good resource for compiled lists of summer programs, internships, etc. The people on here know their stuff… for the most part.
• Quora – I find that people post some interesting personal stories on here. It’s good if you have a specific question and just want to throw it out there.
• Reddit – Good if you’re looking for peer advice, not so much experts or facts, but you may find opinions on extracurriculars or study tips for AP classes that you wouldn’t in a standard article.
• Niche – College search tool, pretty standard.
• Raise.me – This is a great way to earn scholarships (you put in your grades, extracurriculars, etc. and colleges can give you micro-scholarships for each accomplishment), but I’m also including it here because it has a cool college search tool. It’s pretty similar to Naviance’s, but it also includes filtering with certain scholarships.
• Naviance – I’ve mentioned Naviance before, and I’ll mention it again. You can search through colleges, take personality tests to reveal good majors/jobs for you, you can create a resumé, and much more. I love looking at the scatterplots of college acceptances/rejections since it’s using data from actual alumni of your high school.
• Your school’s counseling/college and career center website – There will usually be some informational guides here, and possibly a list of work and volunteer opportunities. If your school keeps it updated, this is a very valuable resource since it’s the most local opportunities accessible to you.
• YouTube – You can watch vlogs/videos from anything to touring colleges you’re interested in or study tips for a specific AP class. If you find the right college/school-oriented YouTuber for you, it’s a valuable resource.

*A lot of the college advice websites are actually college consulting services, so make sure you look at their blogs/articles and not the counseling/test prep stuff (unless that’s what you’re looking for!)

I know there’s so much information out there that it can be daunting to start sweeping the Internet, but these are a few of the websites I’ve found useful. They’re not very original, but you can find most of the things you’ll need to know on here. Good luck in your research!

-Brooke

Hello everyone!

As we near the end of September, we get farther into the school routine and closer to finals *gasp*. I’ve personally already had lots of tests and assignments, but I’ve still been working on fine-tuning my study routine for each class. I wanted to share my current study tips that have been helping me get good grades while also balancing my long list of random activities/extracurriculars, so here you go!

• Quizlet. That’s it. I’ll never stop advocating for Quizlet because it’s a life saver for anything you need to memorize.
• Making my own study guides – I usually do this for history classes and English classes, but I’ve done it for math too. Write about all the important concepts/people/dates/etc. and then when you’re done, use it to quiz yourself. It also helps if you give it to a friend or parent and have them quiz you.
• Rewriting notes – I never used to do this because I thought it was a waste of time, but it’s really worked for me recently. In my AP Euro class, my teacher usually just does lectures and he’s a super fast talker, so we’re always scrambling to write notes. This results in very messy notes, so a studying method I’ve used has been to rewrite the notes neater since it helps me remember the information as I’m writing it all again, but it also gives me neater notes to study off of when I’m done.
• Reading the textbook after lectures in class – People often say to read the textbook before covering the topics in class, but I think depending on the subject, reading it after might be more beneficial. My teachers tend to give a more general overview of topics in class, breaking them down to make sense. Textbooks have all the details and give a lot more specific information; once your teacher has outlined a lesson and you understand the gist, read the textbook section to get a deeper understanding and reinforce what you learned.
• Redoing homework/finding practice material – This is mainly for math, but you can do it for any subject. I like to redo any math problems I had trouble with on homework assignments throughout the chapter to make sure I could get them right if they were on a test. For other subjects, I’ll usually ask my teacher for practice material or find practice tests online (especially for books in English- look up tests!!).

Once you start enforcing good study habits, they’ll become natural. Carving out extra time to study on top of actual homework can feel like wayyyy too much school in a day, but I promise it’s worth it. I’m still working on getting better study habits myself- it’s all a long journey. Good luck with your studying and any tests coming up, you got this!

-Brooke