Tomorrow I start high school.

[skittlepie345]

Hey, i'm going to be a junior in the fall, so let me get my old man voice, and you sit down and listen.

Freshman year is easy, though I'm in a different grade system than you are. (K-6,7-9,10-12)
Take advanced (AP) classes in your sophomore and junior year. Yes, they are hard, but dear lord are they worth the college credit you get if you do well on the AP tests.

So socially, make friends, don't do anything you're uncomfortable with, etc. Academically get a planner if your school doesn't already provide one. Get everything done.

And for the love of all that is holy, DO NOT FALL BEHIND. Seriously, unless you're in the hospital or to contagious to go to school, do not take a sick day. It's not worth it.

Stick to these rules, high school should end up being only slightly more difficult than making a sandwich.

Let's see, advice to myself...

Do your summer homework. Seriously, you have a month left, get on it.

 

[manic_depressive13]

Zuh?

I'm not familiar with the American schooling system. In Australia high school starts when you are around 11 or 12 years old. Also what is a GPA? Is it like GPM? I hope you will be making more than 4 gold per minute.

Anyway, just remember that grades aren't everything.

 

[Flamezdudes]

What ages are the students in High School in the USA?

 

[lumenadducere]

Be nice to people. Even if you're more on the shy or quiet side, being the "nice guy" and having everyone at least know you for that is definitely not a bad way to go. It's basically what I did and I never had any problems, even between all the different social groups. Note that this doesn't mean let people walk all over you - don't let them copy homework or stupid crap like that.

Academically, it's easy. It may not seem like it at the time, but it really is as long as you're willing to do a little work. If your school offers them, take the honors and AP classes, even if you're not planning on going to college. Circumstances may change and you may decide to go, but even if that doesn't happen then you're going to avoid all the goofballs who don't give a damn and will be the loudmouths who disrupt class every given second. As fun as those people can sometimes be, they get annoying really fast. IIRC it's the third year when you get to pick classes, so choose subjects that interest you, not just ones that everyone else is taking for an easy A.

Other than that, as someone else said it's really what you make of it. Hell, a lot of life is...I guess high school is where you first begin to see it. Spend time in clubs or groups that you're interested in, talk to your teachers if you like them, and generally take the extra ten minutes or so out of your day to spend time with people.

 

[lumenadducere]

What ages are the students in High School in the USA?

15-18, usually. Depending on some factors kids can start as low as 14, but usually that's the age range. I think it's the same as college in the UK - it's essentially the school before university. Although in the USA we use "college" to refer to university. Not sure how that happened.

 

[Sethzard]

So what grades does high-school cover in the states? I've been in "high-school" for the past four years (over here it covers years 7-12, myself currently being in year 10) and I've heard that the system's a bit different in the US.

I guess all I can say is make a good first impression, depending on how well you get along with teachers and all the other kids in your year (I'm guessing you're going to a co-ed school. If so, be thankful for it, I'm not saying my school's bad but it gets a bit wierd after a while going to a same-sex school) high-school can either be a great time or a living hell.As for grades, all you can do is do your best, listen to your teachers and try and avoid stress...neither schooling nor your social-life should dominate your time, they should both just be in equal balance (because there is a bigger workload...it's managable and somewhat more flexible though).

I think that high school covers the equivalent of year 9-upper 6th/13

 

[SirDeadly]

I'll post my experience of year 8, I'm Australian so it's probably a completely different system. Year 8 was pretty average really, it was quite boring but I did make a lot of new friends. The teachers seem to suck by now half way through my final year we talk about the most inappropriate things in class (one of my teachers too his pants off (he had board shorts on underneath) joking around about his fashion sense). Don't push yourself too hard, B's should be fine and won't limit your future subject choices. Start pushing next year when you need to achieve.

PS: You may hear a LOT about people having shit loads of homework, I'm a senior and I literally do nothing. I get straight B's.

 

[Spongebobdickpants]

It's not that hard as long as you're not lazy. I was lazy and just skated by as a C average student. I could have easily been a straight A student if I would've put some effort into it.

me aswell, well i got b's and c's but still i hope i can actually sit down for a fucking hour a day and study in uni lol.

 

[Lord_Nemesis]

All this talk of 'middleschool' I'm guessing your AMerican so can't really give you a proper head's-up about it but ver here in the UK, my high school was a full out Survival of the Fittest which translates to "grab a bunch of people, make them your friends and always walk in group".

Grades wise, I know you fellas have GPAs where as over here we have a few major exams at end of term to determine what classes we get put into and all that jazz.

But overall from what I hear, most high schools you need to find your group (clicks or something there called over there) and stick with them. If you can become the alpha then your good as gold.

 

[Flamezdudes]

What ages are the students in High School in the USA?

15-18, usually. Depending on some factors kids can start as low as 14, but usually that's the age range. I think it's the same as college in the UK - it's essentially the school before university. Although in the USA we use "college" to refer to university. Not sure how that happened.

Ah right.

We just have Secondary school for ages 11-16, we then have 16-18 for Sixth Form/College and then University. It is strange how our University is called College for you though, haha.

 

[Mr. Google]

So yeah, I'm going to high school, it's 10:05 PM where I live and I should probably be asleep. So anyway, I'm not sure what to expect, everybody is telling me to grow up and mature some, but I'm not sure if I want to. My sister says to keep a 3.5 to 4.0 GPA, IDK if I'm sure I can do that. Now for the discussion value. Was it hard for you in high school? Did you get along socially/academically? Are you glad about your high school experience? If you could tell the 14 (or however old you were when starting high school) something what would it be? Don't be a smart ass and say that it would tear the fabric of time.

I'm actually going to be helping with this year's freshman orientation. It's pretty easy to skate by as a freshman and not get noticed. If you're tall then you get a free pass. But if you're really short and nerdy it gets tougher all you have to do though is not tell jokes around older kids. Nothing irks me more than hearing a freshman say a middle school joke. I did it too when I was a freshman. They say something totally immature and it makes me just look at them and just say "Freshman" and sigh. It will take awhile for you to learn what is funny to people now and how to say it. For now, just observe. Unless it is with people you're friends with already don't worry about that.

Next always be yourself. You know you hear it all them time but really it's all that you can do. If you aren't a jock don't try and hang with them. If you're a nerd find a group of nerds that don't scare people. I personally can be friends with just about anyone due to my ability to act differently according to who I'm with while still being me. It's just a matter of what you talk about.

Well thats really all I got. I know you're in school right now but this still works for every day. Sorry for the wall of texts but really man I hope it helps. Good luck!

 

[fundayz]

SNIP

Stop talking to the internet and start making real friends.

 

[Xaio30]

Don't. Fall. To. Peer. Pressure.

Things almost went to hell for me by failing that simple rule once.

 

[Professor Idle]

I wasn't the most socially adept in my first few yeasr at high chool, but the advice I can give is this: Being confident amongst other people is all fine and dandy, but PLEASE don't become one of those cocky first years who struts around and yells at the higher years in a squeaky voice. It seems like a good idea to them at the time, but all the older years just cringe.

Oh, and don't listen to the people saying things like "do not be yourself" and all that, they are just shamelessly projecting.

Ooh, also. It's so, SO easy to think you'll be able to do your homework later. For the love of god try and get out of that mentality.

Good luck ^^

 

[MassiveGeek]

Well, we have a different system here in Sweden; we go nine years of gradeschool before you start Gymnasium, or High School.

I'm starting the last year of it now, turning 18 in october and shit. Frankly, all I have to say about my experiences is that they went by fast, there have been some shit times, some really, really good times and I've grown/changed quite a lot during that time.
Some tips maybe, would be to study properly, don't half-ass unless you don't care about your grades of course and try your best to not procrastinate. Iff you want to go to university, look up what grades and stuff you need to get in.

I currently have to go to summerschool because I need to pass Math B(algebra and such) to be able to apply to the university I want to go to.

Cheers.

 

[Ham_authority95]

My Freshman year of highschool was depressing. I made few friends, even though I could talk to anyone in the class with confidence. Grade-wise it was fine. Every class was boring except for social studies and english.

My Sophmore year(last year) was a bit better, made a few more friends, and met my first girlfriend. Did worse grade-wise. I joined the school band, so that made it slightly more bearable. Social studies and English, again, where the most entertaining.

As for my Junior year, I'll tell you in 9 months.

 

[MasTerHacK]

I just finished my Freshman year, this year. GPA was 4.5
Well, all I can say is: socialize with your class as much as possible, it helps out a fuckload.

 

[duchaked]

if I could send a note to myself when I started high school...
it's easier than college, so study well and don't take life too seriously. goal is to get into a good college afterwards

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Junior high school was a nightmare. High school was cake. In retrospect, I probably could have had a lot more fun in high school if I had let myself. Most everything you learn in high school is a slightly more detailed retread of what you learned in junior high school.