Whew! Sophomore year, so far, has been one huge rollercoaster of emotions. Some tried taking their first AP class and learned that getting C is not the end of the world, started relationships for the first time, and struggled through harder homework. As the year progresses, sophomores, who were once freshies, are now becoming juniors and freshies are moving up the high school hierarchy from babies to toddlers. With this in mind, here is a summary of what to do and not to do in your sophomore year.

Procrastination- Everyone does it. You, me, him, her, they, we all suffer from an inescapable temptation called procrastination. I totally understand; the phone, the computer, Netflix, friends, families cause you to create false promises and end up studying until 2 in the morning. For the benefits of your health and especially your sanity do not procrastinate. Sophomore year is not like your freshman or middle school days, it is an introduction to the most reluctant hardest year of high school, junior year. Although it is okay to procrastinate here and there, start waking up from those terrible habits and learn to actually study. Jenna Weitzman (10) says, “don’t procrastinate on your homework. More and more will be added each year, so it’s good to not fall into such a bad habit.” Melody Saba (10) agrees, “Don’t procrastinate. Freshman year may have been easy, but going into sophomore year, especially with AP Euro and other honors classes, it will make your life much more complicated and stressful.”

Organization- If organization isn’t one of your strongest asset, try to improve. AP Euro, Language Arts, Math, Chemistry… all these classes require organization as the basis of everyday work. Kennedy Maddock (10) advises, “ to organize homework in a way where you get as much as you can get done everyday including weekends and days where you don’t do much homework.” Realizing the importance of organization, Timothy Briagas(10) says to “keep your work organized. Honestly that’s something I need to work on as well.”

Let it out – Though it is important to acknowledge your problems, don’t be too stressed. And if your need someone to talk to or just cry that’s okay too. Some helpful methods (experimentally proven by the previous sophomore class) in coping with immediate stress include binge-eating, crying, sleeping, and surprisingly exercising. Just make sure after you have your little session, get up and work hard again. Salma Almoradi (10) says “don’t worry too much about being the best because being yourself is the best you could ever be.”

Effort – Finally, the last advice for all incoming sophomores is to try your best. Don’t quit immediately, reach your limits then if you still can’t do it, just let go. Yes, it is always better to try, but by trying don’t make yourself suffer something that isn’t necessary. Mary Liu (10) says “sophomore year is a lot more difficult than freshman year, don’t start off thinking everythings going to be fine and then struggle in the end. You need to work a lot more harder than freshman year.”

Overall, sophomore year is going to be one bizarre ride, but no matter what happens it will be okay. Kyle Kvenvik(10) says “sophomore year has helped me become a better student and prepared me for the next year including the essays in Cadra and reading quizzes in Buchan. Biggest piece of advice is to stay strong and don’t slack off.”