Fall, Step 1:
Review your sophomore year schedule.  Consider the balance or rigor, opportunity, and your interests.  Review the Program of Studies for deadlines to make schedule change requests in the fall.   Focus on your academics.  Continue to dedicate yourself to your studies, and seek help if needed, striving for consistent improvement.

Fall, Step 2:
10th graders are encouraged to take the PSAT in October. Sign up information is usually sent out in the summer/ at the beginning of the school year and the deadline to register is generally in September.  Check the Ridge testing website for more information.

Fall/Winter, Step 3:
Log into Naviance once codes are sent to students and parents, which occurs in December.  Feel free to do some preliminary exploration in Naviance by clicking on the Self-Discovery tab. Consider taking the following inventories: Intelligences, Learning and Productivity, Personality, and StrengthsExplorer. The Career Interest Profiler will be completed during the counselor presentation in January. Please wait until the presentation to complete that interest profiler.

Winter, Step 4:
Counselors will meet with sophomores in early January for Career Exploration presentations.  Exploring careers is an integral part of overall post-secondary planning and an important factor in your decision making about colleges, majors, and future career(s). In addition, we encourage parents/guardians to attend our Sophomore Parent Night which will cover:  Naviance, standardized testing, career exploration, and college admissions trends. 

Winter, Step 5:
Review results from the Career Interest Inventory and consider exploring and pursuing extracurricular activities related to those results. This is a great time to begin tracking your activities and accomplishments in preparation for the creation of your activity resume. Resume development is critical for post secondary planning. Check out our Resume page for samples and tips.

Winter, Step 6:
Meet with your counselor for academic planning for junior year, typically in February.

• Review the Program of Studies for course descriptions and grade/course prerequisites. Review any course recommendations from your teachers in Genesis and speak to teachers if you have questions. 

• Review your graduation requirements to ensure your proposed course selections meet the requirements.  This includes both course credit requirements AND testing/assessment graduation requirements from the NJDOE (click here).

• Enter course selections for your junior year schedule into Genesis and submit. (The selections are not final, we can still discuss questions at your scheduling meeting). Consider taking classes to rule in or out areas of interest.

Winter/Spring, Step 7:
Become familiar with standardized testing by visiting our Standardized Testing page. Students are encouraged to take the PSAT in October of their junior year and then develop a plan for further standardized testing. Students typically take at least one SAT and one ACT in the winter and/or spring months of junior year. It may be helpful to look ahead at the testing calendars of each test to know when those tests are offered. 

Spring, Step 8:
Consider attending college fairs in our area. You may also begin visiting colleges if you are ready to do so. Attending information sessions will help you learn about different colleges, hear directly from representatives, and learn about their offerings. Many schools also offer information sessions online through the college website. Access our College Visit page for more information.

Spring, Step 9:
Develop summer plans. These may include community service, employment, internships, academic or enrichment opportunities. Refer to the counseling department Summer Programs Resource List for summer program opportunities.

Summer, Step 10:
Review your final grades, course selections for junior year, and Program of Studies scheduling policies and procedures as it relates to your junior year course requests. Complete summer assignments for junior year classes and anticipate communication for October PSAT registration.