Tips for High School

Grade 12 TCDSB Student

I'm currently in grade 12, but when I was in Gr. 9 it was a little overwhelming. I was nervous starting a new school and meeting new people...What I would tell my grade 9 self? Sign up for the Anime Club and meet others with the same interests. It's okay to make mistakes and not have answers for everything cause we're all still learning.

Grade 10 TCDSB Student

My advice for a grade 9 student would be to join clubs. It's very easy to be overwhelmed by the pressure to get good grades or be at the top of the class. Your high school success is not based on grades alone. It is based on the friends and relationships you built and the life lessons you learn. By joining extracurricular clubs, you learn these important life lessons and make new friends that you could still be in contact with even beyond high school.

Grade 12 TCDSB Student

Grade 9 was a good year for me and getting to know the teachers. The most exciting part of high school is you have more opportunities. Most people will accept you. You begin to find yourself. Drama is irrelevant.

High School is going to be the best! It takes time to get used to the environment. I was looking forward to joining the school band, watching talent shows, making new friends, new classes, getting to know peers in all grades 9-12's. You just need to do the work! 

You will hear a lot about studying in high school but what is the best way for you to study?  The answer will be different for everyone because it depends what works best for you to recall and synthesize information.  Does it help you to memorize information?  Does it help you to remember if you draw an image to represent that information?  Does answering practice questions help?  Are you better at studying on your own or with a study partner? Does it help to make up a song or an acronym to remember?  At any rate, studying is not just sitting and looking passively at your textbook and notes it is an action.  

Okay, if you have read the Time Management section and Study Skills section you have already heard a lot about organization and that is because it is so important to your high school success. Being organized will make your life so much easier. No longer will you panic when your teacher asks to see your homework because you will know exactly where it is.  No longer will you forget that your dentist appointment is during Anime Club because you will have written it down in your agenda.  And, no longer will forget your homework because you will go through what your homework is at the end and bring home the necessary materials.  Here is one more tool to help you organize: the locker.

Okay, if you have read the Time Management section and Study Skills section you have already heard a lot about organization and that is because it is so important to your high school success. Being organized will make your life so much easier. No longer will you panic when your teacher asks to see your homework because you will know exactly where it is.  No longer will you forget that your dentist appointment is during Anime Club because you will have written it down in your agenda.  And, no longer will forget your homework because you will go through what your homework is at the end and bring home the necessary materials.  Here is one more tool to help you organize: the locker.