9th grade is full of novel, often thrilling experiences: you (typically) arrive on a new campus, meet new people, and explore new extracurriculars.
But by 10th grade, sometimes the excitement has worn off, and it can feel as if you’re just 2 miles into a 26.2-mile race (y’know…a marathon). You’re slogging along, working harder at school than you’ve ever worked before—but the finish line is still nowhere to be seen. Sounds like the ol’ Sophomore Slump to me!
I guess that’s life, right? Sophomore year is just doomed to be tedious and uninspiring??
Don’t worry: I’m here to tell you that nothing could be further from the truth! AND this here post is going to give you an easy, concrete plan to turn this “meh” year into one that’s full of fun and growth. Believe it or not, 10th grade can a launching pad, not a sink pit. So let’s learn how you’re going to use it to leap into the dazzling high school career that opens doors to your dream college.
ARTICLE CONTENTS
1. Why does the sophomore slump happen?
2. The best 5-step plan to beating the sophomore slump
a. Use your 9th grade experiences to find your focus now
b. Use sophomore year’s lighter courseload to boost your gardes
d. Read read read (outside of coursework!)
Why is 10th grade so mentally hard?
First of all, I want to acknowledge that it’s totally understandable to feel this way: how many trilogies of books, movies, and tv shows have fallen into this pattern?
For example:
Remember how subdued “New Moon” was in the Twilight series? As the second book in the series, we were no longer getting introduced to the crazy world of Edward/Bella/Jacob/vampires. Yet at the same time, we weren’t yet deep enough into the plot to encounter the bigger themes of saving hybrid babies, conquering Volturi, and general good vs. evil. In a way, the series was entering its own unmemorable chapter—its “Sophomore Slump.”
Something similar happened with Harry Potter. We all remember Harry’s first arrival at Hogwarts, the Triwizard Tournament, and Sirius Black, but how many of us would say Chamber of Secrets was our favorite installment? In fact, how many of us could say much at all about the plot of that book (or movie)?!
There you have it: many people think of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as a kind of “Sophomore Slump” for the series.
Need more proof of how this stereotype permeates our culture? Ask any friend who is a middle child! (Or ask yourself, if that’s you.)
But the (happier) reality is….
Sophomore year is a very special time, and we can understand its uniqueness by looking at the origins of the word itself.
“Soph” means “wise” in Ancient Greek. Think “Sophocles,” one of the greatest ancient Greek playwrights.
The root of “more,” on the other hand, means “fool” (as in “moron”!).
So as a Sophomore, while you are “wise” enough to not be a clueless Freshman anymore, you are also a…
JUST KIDDING! I know you’re not a “moron”—you just have plenty more to learn, still.
So what’s your best path forward…out of the “slump” mentality and towards a “champ” mindset?
Plan for Defeating the Sophomore Slump
1. Find Your Focus in 10th Grade
Ninth grade may have been a time when you dipped your toe into lots of different clubs and activities. Now you can “wisely” use those experiences to choose which ones you want to pursue seriously during the rest of high school. Colleges love to see commitment, passion, and initiative (read: leadership), so now’s your last chance to start laying that groundwork. If you hated water polo last year, you still have time to try out soccer and maybe make it to team captain by Senior year.
2. Take advantage of sophomore year’s lighter courseload
I want you to keep this in mind: the coursework you’re taking this year is not as heavy as it will be next year as a Junior. Woo-hoo! This means it’s easier this year to score excellent grades than it might be next year. So grab that low-hanging fruit! Snagging top grades Sophomore year pumps up your cumulative GPA, so even if you’re on the struggle bus for Junior year Physics, you’ll have your exceptional Sophomore grades to help bring up your average. Also, knocking your coursework out of the park this year will make a good early impression on your teachers, some of whom you’ll have again your Junior and Senior years. If they see you excel while your classmates are slacking off, they will give you the benefit of the doubt (and top-notch college recommendation letters!) later on down the line.
3. Consider Taking AP Exams *this* year
If you are already taking an AP class (or a few), aim to take the respective AP test(s) at the end of the year. During admissions, colleges won’t see the scores you earn Senior year (since those tests are administered in the Spring)—so they’ll be extra impressed if they see some scores from both your Junior AND Sophomore years.
4. Read outside of school—as much as possible
Here’s a secret from a testing pro who loves efficiency: the most tried-and-true way to get an SAT Reading and Writing section score above 750 is to READ. A. TON. Reading high-quality texts (classic novels, articles from the New York Times or from Scientific American magazine, etc.) is the most effective way to expand your vocabulary naturally and learn to understand sophisticated writing styles…i.e., the same type of formal, sometimes dry writing you’re going to encounter on Test Day. If you never open a book except when you have to for school, you can still improve your score with lots and lots of elbow grease during your Junior and Senior years, but I rarely see students like that get their scores into the tippety-top 750+ range.
5. Visit Colleges
Wait, already?! Yup. I know you may not know which colleges you even want to apply to yet, but the summer between Sophomore and Junior years is one of the best times to start figuring out what you like and what you dislike in a college, by visiting campuses. I recommend scheduling a handful of college visits in June and July (NOT August, when campuses are flooded with high schoolers cramming in school visits before admission deadlines). Also, do you really think it’s “wise” to wait until next/Junior year, when you’ll have to skip several days of AP Calc to visit schools…and meanwhile, you’re ALSO spending all of your spare time on a burdensome course load AND prepping for the SAT/ACT?
Better to do it now, while you’ve got (relatively) more time on your hands. You’ll thank yourself later.
Conclusion
So there you have it. Follow these tips, and I promise—you’ll turn that Sophomore frown upside-down!
If you’d like more guidance on how you should be using 10th grade to think about standardized test prep and the college process more broadly, check out these four testing timelines. The timeline called “early-bird Sophomore” might be especially relevant, here (because if you’re motivated enough to read this post, that might be you!).
And if you’d like someone with over 15 years of experience in the field to take ALL of the big-picture thinking off your plate, learn more about working with me here.
