Successful High School Students Do These Things

1. Set Short-Term and Long-Term Goals

Goal setting is a skill that develops over time. In fact, it can even be described as an art. To become a successful goal setter, you’ll need to get to know your own work habits and motivators. Setting unrealistic goals gets discouraging quickly.

Instead, set realistic long-term goals and work backwards from those to set smaller short-term goals to act as stepping stones. Then, make a plan to achieve these goals. Break your work down into manageable chunks and find a way to hold yourself accountable. Sometimes it can even help to coordinate with a group of peers so that you can help to hold one another accountable too.

2. Master Time Management

In order to optimise your performance across multiple aspects of your life, you’ll need to develop strong time management skills. This means making and sticking to study schedules, developing systems of organisation that work well for you, and learning the art of multitasking.

3. Select a Balanced Course Load

Many students struggle with finding balance. If you commit to the most challenging track of classes and then load up on uber-challenging electives on top of it, you might overextended yourself, and your grades could suffer. On the other hand, if you don’t take on a course load that is challenging enough, you might feel bored, or find yourself with limited options when it comes time to apply to colleges.

Early in your high school career, try to identify the right balance in course load for you. Freshman year is a great time to experiment with different levels of challenge and different subjects to figure out what works best for you personally. Try to take the most challenging level of core subjects that won’t overwhelm you and then balance it out by selecting electives that truly interest you.

4. Be Active Outside the Classroom

Successful high school students don’t disappear outside the walls of their classroom. They are also engaged members of their community. Get involved with issues that impact your student experience. Educate yourself about the issues facing your community and learn to use your voice productively so that people will listen to your ideas.

Successful high school students are ones that are capable of speaking up and effecting change in a positive way.

5. Participate in Class

You might think that this one goes without saying, but many students seem to think that if they study and achieve high grades, their participation will be a secondary factor. Successful students know, though, that class participation is a means towards the end. Students who participate in class are more engaged in their learning and are better able to encode information in their memories, since thoughtful questions and consideration lend context to new information.

In addition, participating in class shows your teachers that you’re listening and thinking about the material that’s being presented. Teachers are more likely to think of you as a dedicated student when you participate regularly in class discussions.