Back-to-School Resource Guide

Back-to-School

you’re transitioning into high school, this is your last year, or you’re somewhere in between, use this guide to get you started on the right foot as you head back to school.

Introduction

After spending the full summer away from school, the thought of returning to campus can feel a bit overwhelming for both parents and students.

These feelings can start to take over and make it harder for students to make good decisions and stay calm—but the good news is that students can take charge of the back-to-school process and make it an awesome one.

Whether it’s a new and more challenging math class, taking on a new club or sport, or the prospect of searching for colleges and applying, our back-to-school guide is full of practical tips to ensure that you hit the ground running this fall, with as little stress as possible.

Skills To Improve Student Learning

Executive Functioning

The new school year is guaranteed to bring with it new challenges. It’s really important for students to consider their mindset toward learning, and the set of skills and approaches they use every day—whether they’re in the classroom or at home. We call this collective “bag of tools” executive function.

Executive Functioning is a learned skill.

Purchase a planner

One of the biggest traps that students fall into is not looking ahead, and only looking at what’s immediately due. A basic planner is their best friend here! If they make it part of their daily habit and are ready to update it as they get more information on assignments, projects, and tests, it can set them up for success.

Get real with sleep

Every year, scientists learn more and more about the importance of quality sleep for teenagers, for everything from mood to physical wellbeing to how they handle stress. Students should plan a bedtime and alarm that ensures they get at least 8 hours per night consistently!

Keep materials separate for every class

There are a lot of ways to do this including partitions in a binder or separate small binders. Color coding works great, too. It sounds simple, but we see issues with this all the time –they can’t turn in their work if they can’t find it!

Break big projects into little chunks

Thinking about everything your child has to do to get a big project finished can be overwhelming for them but thinking about one piece of that big project like “read chapter 1 of my science book tomorrow after lunch” can be a lot more digestible for students.

Schedule break time–not just study time

If students schedule study breaks, personal time, family time, and social time in advance, they’re less likely to feel overwhelmed with work and can feel more in control of their own time.

Ask for help–and know how to do it right

When researchers look at the students who achieve the best grades in the hardest classes, one consistent theme is that they know how to ask for help and do so regularly. Whether it’s their teacher, parents, siblings, or other outside resources, when students get stuck, they shouldn’t hesitate to ask for help. It’s one of the best ways to be efficient with their learning.

Don’t try to multitask

While many of us think we’re “great multitaskers”, research indicates that nobody is actually good at it! As hard as it is to resist temptation, students should shut down the videos, messaging apps, and other distractions in their study space. The one exception? Wordless music can be okay while they’re taking care of business.

Skills To Improve Student Learning

Self-Regulation

So, you’ve got your new set of eight Executive Function tips in hand, and your child is ready to use them this school year. That’s great! One little catch though: how they use those tips relies heavily on how their brain reacts to everything that happens around them, and how they behave in response. Psychologists call this self-regulation, and it’s important to know the basics so students can improve the way their mind responds.

One of the biggest focus areas for self-regulation as a high school student is emotional control. All the way through senior year, students’ bodies and brains are going through a period of immense change, and it’s totally normal for them to have strong feelings and reactions to things that happen around them. Here are three key strategies they can use to improve their self-regulation:

1

Practice positive self-talk

Several research studies find that silently talking to yourself in the third-person (“You can do this, Bianca!”) reduces the strength of negative emotional responses to what’s happening around you. It may sound silly, but have your child try it out—nobody can hear what’s in their head!

2

Reflect and write out your feelings

It’s inevitable that they’re going to have a bad day—a test doesn’t go the way they want a new project has them feeling anxious. Have your child take just a few minutes to write down how those things made them feel. Just the act of writing things out helps them process and will reduce the impact on their emotional state.

3

Take a breather

When life suddenly deals your child a bit of bad news and they feel their emotional state start to ramp up, have them take five long and deep breaths. Breathing from the chest and controlling respiration rates has been shown to greatly reduce the magnitude of any negative feelings and will help them make better decisions in the moment.

Want to learn more about self-regulation?

Check out what expert Dr. Richard Cash had to say when we hosted him for a webinar.

WATCH WEBINAR

Coping with Academic Stress

We’ve all been there—it’s the night before a big midterm, and the feet start tapping, the sighs start flowing, and heads loll back to stare up at the ceiling. It’s a natural stress response to the challenges in front of most students—over 75% of teenagers report consistently feeling this way during the school year. It may feel uncomfortable, but it turns out that stress can actually be a positive thing. Help your child understand that learning more about what stress means for their body and mind is key to reducing its harmful effects.

Start by defining stress as Dr. Kelly McGonigal does: “it’s what arises when something we care about is at stake.” The way your child is feeling comes from caring about how well they do, which is awesome. That stress can create a lot of positive responses: it causes your child’s mind to focus, heightens their senses, increases their motivation, and mobilizes their energy to get work done. On the flip side, if they don’t control the stress response, it can result in elevated levels of the hormone cortisol, which over time causes all kinds of bad effects on their body and mind.

Here are 5 quick tips to help your child harness the positive effects of stress, and control the negative ones:

Make sure they get regular physical exercise – and doing it outside in nature is especially beneficial for improving their stress response.

When they feel stressed, have them do a quick breathing routine – it’s as simple as three deep abdominal breaths, slowly exhaling.

Acknowledge and utilize stress – when their brain starts to think of stress as a normal and expected part of caring about things, they’ll start feeling less negative impact from it.

Encourage them to volunteer and help others – recent research shows that people who spend some of their time volunteering, or helping others, feel less negative impact from stress.

Have them think of a friend’s resilience – this is a neat trick, where they think about a friend or family member who’s dealing with bigger challenges than they are—and the fact that they’ve made it through.

Grade-by-Grade High School Guide

Freshman High School Guide

What to expect your child’s first year of high school

This first year of high school is a big step up for most students. Classes are harder, there’s more responsibility, and the grades your child earns freshman year will count for college admissions. They may also try out clubs, sports, and other extracurriculars, which means focusing on how they manage their time is now way more important than it was in 8th grade.

Another big change as they embark on high school is the level of accountability and self-advocacy needed to succeed. It’s the right time for them to get comfortable with the resources they have available, including their teachers, peers, and other mentors and coaches outside of the classroom. When they get stuck, they should take that first step to reach out – which means learning how to write a good clear email or planning ahead to visit their teacher’s classroom after school or during lunch.

What to focus on this year:

Support your child in getting the best grades they can – This might sound obvious, but the grades they earn freshman year play a major factor in the college admissions process. Far too many freshmen approach the fall semester with an underestimation of what it takes to really excel in all of their classes – don’t let your child be caught off guard.

Encourage your child to try out new clubs, sports, and activities – Freshman year is an amazing time to try new things; a huge part of the high school journey is your child discovering more about themself and their purpose. Let them know not to be afraid to try a new club or activity even if they end up switching out of it later! These pursuits form a great balance with their academic classwork.

Help your child build a study skills and organization foundation –The best time to change and improve habits is right now as your child starts their freshman year. Each year’s challenges will only increase, so make sure they take the time to find a system of planning, goal setting, and organization that works well for them. This might take some experimentation, but the investment of time is totally worth it.

Work with your counselor to plan the pathway for the years to come – As your child progresses through their freshman year, pathways in subjects such as math and science will start to become clearer. You, your child, and their counselor need to have an open discussion about your child’s interests, strengths, and what makes the most sense for their progression into 10th grade and beyond.

Digital SAT®/PSAT®: On the Horizon for You!

As your child moves down the college admissions pathway, they’ll likely take one or both of the PSAT and SAT which can feel like long and challenging tests. These tests can be a key component to applying to many colleges and universities. There’s some good news for your child and their classmates in the Class of 2026 – they’ll be taking a brand new digital PSAT and SAT, delivered on their laptop or tablet, that is much shorter than the old paper-based tests.

No need to worry about this just yet, but look for a first opportunity to try out the Digital PSAT in the fall of their Sophomore year in 2023. They’ll be able to access great free resources—including some from us—to orient them and help them understand how to put their best foot forward.

Sophomore High School Guide

What to expect your child’s second year of high school

Your child has adjusted to life in high school and survived through—and hopefully thrived in—their freshman year. Whatever their performance in classes, they’ve got a chance to continue to achieve important grades in classwork that’s a notch more challenging than last year. For many students, sophomore year brings their first AP or IB classwork, which is a whole new level of difficulty.

It’s still not too late to try new things, but ideally, they’ve started to hone in more on their purpose as a learner and the activities, sports, and interests that mean the most to them. Sophomore year is a great time for students to lean further into these things, picking up leadership roles, trying out for competitions or other distinctions, and building connections with other like-minded students. The pathway to college application season will start to ramp up at the end of this year, and they may consider starting to visit and learn more about prospective universities.

What to focus on this year:

Keep the focus on achieving strong grades – Even as the level of challenge ratchets up, it’s crucial for your child to keep their attention on achieving the best possible grades in their classes. Whether their freshman year GPA delighted you or bummed you out, sophomore year carries equal weight and will be important in the college admissions process. They might have some classes that are ‘weighted’ because they’re college-level—make sure they don’t settle for a B just because it calculates as an A for their GPA!

Go deeper with their extracurriculars – Your child hopefully tried a lot of different activities last year—and learned what they loved, and what wasn’t that exciting. As they start sophomore year, help them look for ways to get even more involved in the things that spoke to them! This may mean going out for a leadership role in an organization, spending more time being involved, or even starting their own new activity or club.

Help your child build out their support network for college-level courses – If your child is sticking their toes into the water of AP/IB/ college-level coursework this year, as many sophomores do, it’s time to get serious about their support structure. Whether it’s study groups, outside coaching, or other school-provided resources, the most successful students take advantage of extra help to succeed when the material gets tough.

Digital SAT®/PSAT®: You Get the First Shot!

As your child moves down the college admissions

As members of the Class of 2025, your child will be the very first to experience a brand new redesigned digital PSAT and SAT. These challenging tests can be a key component to applying to many colleges and universities, and the good news for your child is that the redesigned tests are shorter than ever before. They’re also administered on a laptop or tablet, which probably feels a lot more comfortable to them, as much of their learning experience has gone digital over the last 4-5 years.

Depending on the school, students may take a practice PSAT in October of this year, which will still be using pencil and paper. As your child gets closer to their Junior year PSAT, they’ll be able to access great free resources—including some from us—to orient and help them understand these tests and how to put their best foot forward.

Junior High School Guide

What to expect in your child’s action-packed Junior year of high school

This is the big one! Talk to any number of recent high school grads, and almost all of them will say that Junior year is where they met the most challenges. Your child will be juggling even harder courses than last year, more time commitment from sports and other activities, and digging in further to the college admissions journey. They should expect to feel more stress than before, but if you’ve read our guide carefully, they’ll be ready for it and know how to persevere!

To make it through Junior year successfully, consider how they’ll find balance. Not just between schoolwork and extracurricular activities, but balance in the other things that make them happy—spending time with friends, going to concerts and other outings, and even learning to drive. With all that they’ll have on their plate during Junior year, that balance can’t be taken for granted; to make things work, they will need to be on top of scheduling out and managing their time.

What to focus on this year:

As always, grades are the top priority – Junior year usually brings the most challenging set of courses yet, and they’re often weighted for your student’s GPA; they may be tempted to settle for that B+ but spending the extra effort to strive for an A is important for their college admissions chances.

Make a testing plan and stick with it – ou, your child, and their counselor know their schedule best, and you do have some flexibility when it comes to preparing for and taking the official SAT/ACT. Think carefully about when your child will have the time to dedicate to doing their best and map out their plan accordingly. This will reduce everyone’s stress and give your child a predictable pathway toward their best possible score.

Consider streamlining their obligations outside of school – The clubs, sports, and activities your child loves are still important, but many successful Juniors will make the hard decision to step back from one or more of them to ensure they’re able to stay rested and do their best. Just remind them that they don’t have to do it all—and that Junior year is hard for everybody. It’s okay to pass on things!

Encourage your child to spend time working on finding their college alignment – During Junior year, it’s crucial for your child to put the time and thought into their goals for the next stage in their education—what kind of experience are they looking for as they move beyond high school? Make sure they take any opportunities they have to learn more about schools, including visiting them, if possible.

PSAT®, SAT®, ACT® in the Age of Test-Optional Admissions

For most students, Junior year is the right time to tackle the official administrations of the PSAT and SAT/ACT. You’ve probably heard about the huge change in policies that has swept the colleges and universities: most of them no longer require the submission of an SAT or ACT. This new level of flexibility is an awesome option that your child may be able to utilize as they consider applying to college.

The key thing to note is that while schools no longer require these tests, in almost every case your child can still help out their application if they’re able to submit a strong test score.

For those who’ve released data, the admission rate for students submitting scores is roughly twice as high as the rate for students who apply without a test score.

As much as it may feel daunting to spend the time to prepare and do their best on these tests during a busy Junior year, the leg up it can give your child is too important to simply give up at the start. Make sure your child takes practice tests, puts in the work to improve, and does their best—and then you, your child, and their counselor can make the decision in the fall of their Senior year if it’s the right plan to submit their score.

Senior High School Guide

Don’t let your child slow up as they approach the finish line!

Your child has made it through Junior year—and the end of high school is approaching quickly. That’s cause for great excitement, and most high school grads agree that Senior year can be a fun time. Some of those same grads who “took their foot off the gas pedal” would also agree they wish they’d stayed focused just a little bit longer as they closed out their time in high school!

The first half of your child’s Senior year will have a heavy focus on the college application process if that’s the next step for them after high school. Between taking their last standardized tests, collecting letters of recommendation, and writing application essays, it may feel like they have a whole other set of “classes” outside of the school day. The trick will be ensuring they continue to deliver their best performance in their real classes, as those grades are still key for colleges and universities.

Early Decision

Students can pick a single school to apply to, under a binding agreement – if they are admitted, they must attend.

Early Decision I

This is the main attempt for students to apply ED to a given school – and ususally has the most advantage for students in terms of admit rates.

Early Decision II

For students who aren’t admitted in the first ED wave, some schools offer another round –there isn’t usually as much advantage in admit rates here, but still better than regular admission.

Typical deadline: November 1st Typical decision release: December 15th

What to focus on this year:

Students apply earlier in the timeline. They aren’t bound to enroll of they’re admitted.

Early Action Regular Early Action

Students apply earlier in the cycle, to as many schools as they’d like. There’s a slight advantage to admit rate, and students also get the benefit of learning the decisions earlier in the process.

Single-Choice Early Action

Students apply earlier in the cycle, but for these schools, they are only allowed to apply to a single school. There’s a slight advantage to admit rate.

Typical deadline: November 1st Typical decision release: December 15th

Regular Decision

Students apply to as many schools as they’d like, and are not bound to enroll if they are offered admission.

Typical deadline: January 1st

Typical decision release: April 1st

Don’t Let your Child Contract Full-Blown Senioritis – Once your child has applied to college, and moves into the second half of the year, it’s tempting to completely relax and let their schoolwork slip. Unfortunately, there are plenty of horror stories of students who did this, and then had their offers of college admission revoked once the schools saw their Spring semester grades. Your child’s teachers will probably ease off some, but make sure they continue to pay enough attention.

The Application Process Is About YOUR CHILD – When it comes to applying to college, there are a lot of “cooks in the kitchen” – from parents, to peers, to counselors. Make sure your child uses all of their resources and listens to the advice but remember that the decisions they’re making are personal and should align with what gives them joy and purpose. Try not to get hung up on the “brand names” of schools or lapse into envy based on what other students are doing.

Last Call for Some Activities – While your child will likely have the opportunity to continue their pursuit of extracurriculars in college, for some of them their Senior year may be the “last hurrah”. Encourage them to have fun with it, try pushing themself in ways they haven’t before, and make memories they’ll treasure for years to come.

Importance of Course Rigor

The Long History of Increasing GPAs

chart below is taken from UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute—as part of their ‘American Freshman’ survey they’ve been conducting since the 1960s. It was once the case that an A- average or better set a student out from their peers, with fewer than half of students achieving that mark as late as the 1990s, but today, more than 70% of students heading off to college can tout that level of achievement.

Percentage of Freshmen at 4-Year Universities with an A+, A, or A- Average in High School

Tutoring is Not Just For Remediation

If you’re looking at all of this and saying ‘I want my child to do their best, but it’s a lot’ – you’re not alone. The expectations of today’s students are higher than ever before, and far too many parents and students think of it as something that must be taken on solo.

Over the last 20 years, as we’ve spoken to over 100,000 parents and students about the high school journey, there’s one major learning we’ve found: tutoring isn’t just a fix when there’s a burning problem. Think about it as the difference between firefighting and fire protection engineering; for many students, working with an outside tutor even as they’re holding down straight A’s is part of how they reduce stress, learn more efficiently, and get that outside push to achieve their best.

How tutoring can support:

To catch up/remediation

This is the ‘firefighting’ stage, where your child has brought home the mid-semester report card with a grade in their class that frustrates and disappoints both you and them. What a great tutor can do here is not only identify where your child is at, and what gaps in understanding they might have, but also help them build processes and approaches that will make the learning process more enjoyable. Look for a tutor who has specific experience in helping students who’ve reached this point and then have turned things around to achieve specific grade goals, not just someone who says they know the subject well.

To stay ahead/maintain

So, your child has straight A’s already. That’s great! For too many students, however, this performance comes with undue stress, a lack of sleep, and imbalance in their life outside of the classroom. Working with a tutor can help your child plan ahead, set achievable goals, and make their learning process more efficient, which is increasingly critical as they proceed through high school into harder classwork.