Freshman year can be very stressful with a new school, new people and harder assignments, but surviving it is not impossible. Here are some tips for making it through that first year of high school.

1. Don’t be intimated by an upperclassman. Sometimes upperclassmen like to say mean things to freshmen because they are new, but just let it go as they are most likely just joking around.
2. Get to class on time. Five minutes between each class is plenty of time to get to class. You will be written up if you are late too many times.
3. Check grades periodically. Grades are always changing based on the number of assignments you have turned in, so be sure to always check for missing assignments.
4. Handle stress efficiently. There will be some times when you have so many assignments that you can not handle them, so just do one assignment at a time and, if needed, make a study schedule.
5. Don’t get in trouble. I am serious about this one. You may have gotten detention or suspension, in middle school or elementary school, but it truly matters in high school because colleges look at your high school records, and this can greatly diminish your chances of getting into college.
6. Accept that you are the lowest age group in school.  This being said means you will not be getting as much attention as the upperclassman do. In fact, one could even say that you are almost negligible.
7. Be cognizant of the add-drop period. If you are having lots of trouble in a class or quite frankly just don’t like it, you have 10 days after the first day of school to drop a class. To do this, make an appointment with your counselor and ask to drop a class, but make sure you have another class in mind to replace it with.
8. Do your homework. This one should go without saying but don’t just ditch homework. I recommend doing it right when you get home from school. To be honest, there is no excuse for not doing your homework because you should get it done in class.
9. Study hard for tests and quizzes.  Allocate a minimum of 20 minutes per day for studying.
10. Learn the building. BPHS is a really big school. It has four floors and long hallways, and all of the floors look the same, so it can get confusing. If you don’t know where something is, please ask an upperclassman and they will gladly help. There are many different routes and shortcuts to take to class.

Follow these rules for freshmen year, and you’ll be all set for sophomore year and beyond.