You know that phrase “XYZ is a marathon, not a sprint”? Well, college applications and test prep are DEFINITELY an example of that, especially during your Junior year. 11th grade will likely bring you your toughest academic load yet, a bigger stack of club/sports/other extracurricular responsibilities, and maybe even a few jobs or internships in there, too—all while you also take the SAT or ACT one or more times, draft and narrow down a college list, visit prospective campuses, and start thinking about your application essays. Whew. It can be a bit overwhelming to see it all listed out like that!
And yes, by the numbers, you WILL have more on your plate than you did sophomore or freshman year! But that doesn’t mean you have to freak out, flub, or run yourself ragged. In fact, with a few key mindset shifts, and a few small changes to your daily habits, you can proceed at a steady, sane pace through this busy year (and a half!) of your life. Below, I’m sharing with you the top themes I return to time and again with my private SAT/ACT tutoring clients. They really work for my students, and they’ll work for you, too.
Mindset Shift #1: Manage Junior Year Stress by Counting Test Prep and College Applications in Your Courseload
In other words, you’re going to treat these new, extra responsibilities as if you signed up for two extra year-long classes: “Test Prep” and “College Applications.”
Each of these special “classes” will take the same amount of time and work as a regular class, like English or Physics. Granted, you won’t get “graded” in Test Prep and College Applications (though you will eventually get a score!). Nor will you have “homework” and “due dates” the same way you would for a standard high school class. But if you think about it, you kinda do have homework… after all, you have content and practice problems and sections to do for “Test Prep” leading up to the due date that is your SAT or ACT sitting. As for “College Applications,” you’ll need to manage your own assignments of researching colleges, visiting them, and adding them or subtracting them to your list…if you hope to get into the upper-level course next year: writing your applications and submitting them for the deadlines.
Just as some people consult a tutor for help with their academic classes in school, you can also seek help in juggling these tasks and completing them well and in time! The advantage of working with a test prep guru like myself is that she can effectively take over the higher-level organization of what you need to do for your “Test Prep.” She can create a timeline for you, give you steadily progressing assignments along the way, and get you 100% ready for Test Day. In fact, that’s exactly what we’ll do if you opt for one of my Ace the Test: Game Plan sessions! And, a college counselor can do the same for your “College Applications” course: draft your working college list FOR you, instruct you when to visit those campuses, provide you with mini-deadlines so that you complete your application essays before they’re really due, and even assist you with financial aid applications and finding scholarships.
Mindset Shift #2: Stay Calm during Test Prep by Remembering Now is NOT Forever
This one can be tough to really feel the truth of when you’re in the middle of the year, so you’ll have to revisit this reminder often! Basically, as hard as you’re working on your two extra “classes” this year, know that this is a FINITE period of time. It’s strictly a junior and senior year of high school thing.
YES! You’ll probably have to cut back on social time and chill-out time. YES! You may want to throw in the towel towards the end of junior year when your final exams stack up on top of the ACT, SAT, APs, and other exams (Regents, IB, etc.).
However, if you can really internalize that this period is a unique rite of passage that you only need to make it through ONCE in your lifetime, you can plan for it instead of dreading and resenting it. Planning ahead doesn’t just make the process itself way more bite-sized and manageable—it also helps you remember that the whole process is going to end. One day you'll have time to hang out again, I promise. And the end of your senior year will be all the more fun because you’ll really appreciate your freedom.
Mindset Shift #3: Make Test Prep Easier by Planning Around Your Busy Periods
Do you happen to know for sure that you’ll be slammed in November and December during the annual school play, in which you always get a leading role? Or does soccer season really ramp up after Spring Break, in early April?
Don’t let busy seasons—which are often cyclical and thus predictable—sneak up on you. Instead, take note of the fact that you’re not going to be able to put as much time towards your “College Applications” and “Test Prep” “classes” during those times….and develop a plan that will allow you to complete the necessary work for them during your less hectic months and weeks.
In other words, instead of saying to yourself, “Phew! I don’t have as much to do for debate team or badminton right now. Guess I’ll catch up on Hulu,” try this: “Phew! I don’t have as much to do for debate team or badminton right now. Guess I’ll get a head start on the work I need to do for Test Prep and College Applications so I DON’T have to do so much when I’m crazy busy in a few weeks!”
Believe me—you’ll thank me later.
Habit Shift #1: Schedule in Exercise.
Even 10 minutes of cardio—as in, biking, swimming, running, or dancing like a crazy person to your favorite jams in your bedroom—has multiple benefits. But for you, a high school junior or senior, these are the pluses that matter the most:
Exercise kills stress like no one’s business! It literally lowers the levels of the stress hormone cortisol in your body, helping you feel less tense.
Exercise also releases feel-good hormones and endorphins in your body, meaning your mood substantially improves.
Exercise is one of the most quick-and-dirty “state changes” available to you. Feeling blah? Sleepy? Uninspired? Jump into 10 minutes of jumping jacks or hit the pilates mat and soon you won’t even remember how crabby you were feeling before you put on your gym shorts.
Exercise shares some of the same effects as meditation. Moving your body forces you to get out of your head—which might be humming with all manner of negative “who cares?” and “this is the worst!” thoughts. In other words, if you’re focusing on that next butterfly stroke or perfecting the spiral on your football pass, you have no mental capacity for stressing about your ACT scores. Your brain gets a break…meaning it gets the recharge it needs to work effectively again once you return to your test prep or homework.
Habit Shift #2) Whether or Not You Consider Yourself an “Athlete,” Treat Your Body Like a Temple
The short way of putting this is: you need to be mindful of what goes in, so you can assure that only good things (like perhaps a 35 on the ACT or a 1560 on the SAT?) come out. That means that, yes, you need to actually eat fruits and veggies to make sure you get the vitamins and micro-nutrients your brain needs to do its thing. Whole foods actually make you feel better, too, unlike that Snickers (and its ensuing sugar crash) that you might instinctively reach for after 5th period.
A NOTE ABOUT DRUGS AND ALCOHOL: As a test prep expert, I’m here to encourage you to keep it clean during high school—not because you're a "bad" person if you don't, but because it interferes with your test prep timeline! It takes several hours for your body to process alcohol and drugs—sometimes even days!—so in essence, you just killed that amount of time. If you thought you were busy before you were hungover, you’ll really have to cram now. And your scores and grades will suffer as a result.
In addition, alcohol and drugs kill brain cells, impede your ability to focus, and slow the formation of synapses in your brain. It should seem obvious that it’s NOT a good idea to mess with your brain chemistry when you desperately need your brain in tip-top shape for the next couple years. Getting into college is a big, important step—don’t get in your own way, here.
Habit Shift #3) Get Enough Sleep. Really.
I know, this is soooo cliché, and it might be one of the few times you'll confuse me with your mom, but you really do have to get sleep during your junior and senior years. Ideally 7-9 hours of it. Every night.
I know this, because I used to NOT get enough sleep during MY junior year of high school. I was so preoccupied with my coursework and math competitions and piano and flute and side projects that I distinctly remember thinking that sleep was a “waste of time." But then, thanks to my newly-lowered immune system, I got mono…and was out of school for HALF A MONTH! Talk about wasted time and having to play catch-up! Even after the mono, I started getting terrible migraines…almost every day.
My poor mother started freaking out. She was afraid I had a brain tumor and took me to a neurologist. After several tests, the good doctor finally asked me how much sleep I got. He almost fell over when I said, “8 hours on weekends, and between 2-3 hours on weekdays.” Turns out, that’s NOT a lot of sleep. And it didn’t take Sherlock to figure out that severe fatigue had either caused or worsened my mono AND my migraines. Don’t be like me. You can make sleep a priority, even if the other kids around you don’t.
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So hopefully, you’ve now got a better grasp on how to use your precious time and energy over the course of the next couple years…AND understand how to properly take care of your mind and body so that it can help you grab the test scores and college admissions you deserve! If you find yourself craving more tips for the challenging year(s) ahead, or maybe even a tailored-to-you, month-by-month schedule, hit me up.
