High School Review Part 2
The Hunter-Gatherers went around interviewing students from grades 9-11 in Manhattan Hunter Science High School (MHSHS). Take a look at what the students say about their student life at MHSHS.
Even though they just arrived this year, the freshmen class has learned how to navigate the waters of high school- from making new friends to dealing with the pressure that comes along with the workload. What advice can they give to the incoming freshmen next year? By examining some interviews with freshmen students, we will discover what they have learned so far in their high school careers.
The most notable piece of advice from freshmen was how to make friends, and why you should not be scared to do so. Some students responded with:
“…don’t be so nervous about making friends because everyone’s on the same boat and most people don’t know anyone going in anyways.” - Student 1
“Some advice that I would give to freshmen next year is to not be afraid to make friends…” - Student 2
“Don’t be scared to make friends since the school environment is welcoming to everyone. And join different clubs in order to get to know more people.” - Student 3
The freshmen class wants to reassure the incoming student body that making friends should not be a problem since everyone is enduring the same situation of being new to the school. Also, our school environment is friendly so you shouldn’t be afraid.
Another important piece of advice freshmen offered regarding school work and time management; is seen in the following interviews:
“Hand in all the assignments but do not let it get to you, enjoy time for yourself.” - Student 2
“Show up and be on time. Also, time management is key because the work can easily pile up.” - Student 4
Having a balance between school and your personal life is important to freshmen, yet making sure schoolwork comes first is key. This way, students will be able to enjoy themselves with less weight on their shoulders.
Hopefully, the incoming freshmen will be able to take this advice into consideration when going into high school next year. Currently, the freshmen class are still learning new ways to manage their high school lives, but what they have figured out is important. Although they are new, freshmen appear to be thriving in high school.
Freshmen
Class of 2026
Collected by Kiran Srikant
Advice for Incoming Freshmen
Sophomores
Class of 2025
Collected by Divya Darshanprashad
Advice for Incoming Sophomores
As students advance to the next grade they are able to discover new and important skills. These skills will help them with harder work in the future. Considering this, upcoming students need to remember they are entering a new environment with new teachers. Many current students agreed that the underclassmen will need some vital advice. The advice discussed in this article will range from general homework practices to in-class behavior.
Many students mentioned that the workload increases in the next grade, so students must learn how to manage time. Managing your time can be done by creating a schedule in which you are allowed time to do certain hobbies when your homework is completed. Going into sophomore year, students usually want to do more clubs, but this cannot happen unless they learn how to properly manage their time when they are freshmen. This can be done by cutting down on procrastination, as well as learning to prioritize certain assignments. Students still need to have breaks, but they are able to do this once they master time management.
Another common piece of advice was paying attention in class and consistently taking notes. Students should be taking notes for their own understanding, not just because a teacher tells them to. This will give students a higher chance of understanding the topic much better. Current sophomores have mentioned that taking notes made understanding concepts in class much easier. When reading, it's encouraged to reread the text to completely understand it because classes are starting to have the more advanced vocabulary. For example, students are meant to understand the chapters they read and not need further information on them during AP World History. When discussing AP World, sophomores mentioned that there is a great difference between the workload, tests, and assignments when compared to their last year's classes. Underclassmen need to get used to classes that are structured differently than what they are used to while still achieving good grades.
Finally, it is important to study. Freshmen may have been able to get by with ease in their current classes without studying, but it’s very important to study in sophomore year. A lot of sophomore years depend on students understanding textbook concepts and terms in both AP World History and AP Bio. Tests in these classes are formatted much differently than what freshmen students are used to since it’s based on College Board’s exams. This just emphasizes the need to study the material and vocabulary so sophomores can better understand the questions. Current freshmen should start practicing revising their writing, asking questions, and asking for help when needed. There is always support in the midst of heavy workloads, so going to office hours when something is difficult to comprehend is helpful. School life is a roller coaster of ups and downs, but it is important to continue moving forward. It will only become harder ahead, but by learning the important skills needed to succeed, the journey will hopefully be an easier one.
Junior year has long been recognized as an incredibly important year for any student as it is the year that most colleges are looking at. Not only are juniors expected to keep up with classes rigorously, but they are also expected to have extracurricular activities in and outside of school to have the material for college applications (and also because they enjoy the extracurricular, hopefully). With this in mind, many of our juniors here at MHSHS are familiar with caffeine and long nights, coming home exhausted and having to join a zoom meeting for a program outside of school, going to your extracurriculars on breaks, and generally spending a lot of your ‘free time’ working. However, it is possible to keep up with this tumultuous year but still have a social life, and even have some fun high school experiences as students at our school have shown. Nonetheless, I have interviewed some of our junior student body to give you sophomores some more specific insight, lucky you. :)
As I’m sure current sophomores know, academics at MHSHS are taken seriously, however, what most juniors have reported is that it all comes down to time management. 86 percent of high school students are reported to ‘procrastinate on assignments”, according to education company Magoosh and I don’t think our school is an exemption to this statistic, with some of the most prominent advice when interviewed being an enthusiastic “LEARN HOW TO MANAGE YOUR TIME”. This is the year that colleges start to look at your grades; late assignments will impact your average once they add up, and by then it’s too late to do much about it. Extra credit can only help so much and some teachers may not even give opportunities for it if you have shown a lack of interest as a student by handing in assignments late. There are many free resources to help in managing one's time, Pomodoro timers being a prominent and easy-to-use example. However, support from friends is also greatly encouraged. For instance, homework sessions after school or in the library are effective if you know that you will not be able to focus at home until it’s late at night, and are great ways to focus if the problem is that you can’t motivate yourself to do so.
Furthermore, when it comes to time management it is especially important when taking into consideration that the classes one is taking in junior year are more rigorous as juniors have to take AP Language and AP US History as a requirement, with AP Biology being optional but a prominent choice if you want to go into the medical field. Unfortunately, juniors are not able to advise on the mathematics classes as many sophomores will be taking Pre-Calc instead of Algebra 2 next year. However, advice for AP US History remains the same: don’t procrastinate and do your LGTs every day, as once you fall behind it is hard to catch up. Although it may be easy to see APUSH as another one of your US History classes, like the ones you had before high school, the material goes much more in-depth, taking into account politics; instead of just memorizing dates students are expected to make nuanced connections to have a good understanding and score on the APUSH test in May. Additionally, although AP Language may seem a little daunting for students who don’t do spectacularly in normal English classes, many juniors find it to be reasonable in terms of both workload and difficulty, with not a lot of homework but a need to use in-class time appropriately for their assignments. For AP Biology however, there is a lot of work to be done on the student’s part, not because the teacher is doing something wrong, but simply because Biology in general is a class that requires a lot of self-studying and memorization. When signing up for AP Bio, take into consideration that you will most likely spend a lot of time studying and that the mitochondria are no longer defined as the powerhouse of the cell but instead something much more, this is an AP class after all. However, it’s not too bad, Mr. Eisenstadt is known for devoting much of his time to helping his students, so if you make an effort you should be able to pass the class (maybe even with flying colors!).
We are still not over! Juniors have to take the SAT soon(March 22nd, good luck to my fellow peers), and you sophomores will most likely take the PSAT around this time as well. Thus, some of the most important advice that a lot of juniors said was to ‘take SAT prep seriously, don’t use it as nap time”- very important for a college-focused high school like ours. Although many colleges say they are test-optional, it is important to still take the test seriously as it can open doors to scholarships or be another highlight on your application. Many juniors recommend starting SAT prep very early, as in, right now or during your summer vacation. Do not delay! Not only will you be busy with normal schoolwork during junior year, but you will also have extracurricular activities, and will be in the process of studying for those AP tests you’ve signed up for. There is very little time that you will want to spend looking at yet another standardized test, so take advantage of the summer when you have more free time and are unbound by other responsibilities that come during the school year.
Not everything is academic though, and colleges want to see some of your passions and hobbies (extracurriculars) throughout junior year. I am unqualified to talk about specifically what colleges are looking for when seeing your extracurriculars so I’ll leave that for another day, however, there is still some advice to be said here. Mainly: “just go for it”. If there’s a club or a sport you think you wouldn’t be good at but still have some interest in, try it out. Who knows? Maybe you’re a natural at it? Even if you’re not, there’s no harm in trying, we’re still in high school after all.
Well, that’s it, folks! I know that’s a long read so here’s the TL;DR: manage your time, don’t procrastinate, be ready for the rigor of classes, TAKE SAT PREP SERIOUSLY and start prepping early, and finally don’t be afraid to try different things for extracurriculars!
Good luck,
Frida Rivera Animas
Juniors
Class of 2024
Collected by Frida Rivera
Advice for Incoming Juniors
SOURCES:
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‘Guest Author’ (anonymous) on June 2014 in Magoosh
Interview:
~ Ashley Guaman, February 2023
~ Angelie Thomas, February 2023
~ Anonymous Student, February 2023