4 min read
Empty building hallway photo – kyo azuma (unsplash.com)
Introduction
I never liked the phrase “back-to-school”, and I still don’t. I’m not sure if I ever will. Anyways, in this post, I’m going to list a few basic strategies that I recommend to you personally for making the school year easier and keeping it nonchalant.
I found school to be much easier when I didn’t take it that seriously and had other responsibilities. You perform better if you give it your all, but perform only slightly worse if you only give it 70% and dedicate the 30% to something else.
I’ll teach you what I did, and how to replicate it to the best of your ability.
Realistic Standards
Some of you aren’t the most motivated, nor are you the most outgoing. You want a straightforward approach and a clear path to the shiny door at the end of the road. I get it. I wanted it too, and don’t worry, you’ll get that.
Let’s make one thing clear though.
Your grades will be good, but not as good as they could potentially be. A few months ago, or possibly even a year ago, I wrote a post featuring some thing about me doing better in my freshman year of high school despite doing less. I don’t know exactly where I wrote that but it’s a true story. I won’t exactly go into detail on that story or something like that, but on something more recent.
For example, if your “standard” is all As across all classes despite only ever accomplishing that in middle school, I don’t really know what to tell you. High school is on another level (doesn’t mean difficult, because it’s not) compared to previous years, and forget about college. What I’m trying to say is that with this new “mindset” that I’ll provide you, you can only do so well. You are limited because these limits are required.
If you want the best grades ever, leave this post. You won’t need it. But if you want freedom, peace of mind, and still strong academic performance, then you’re in the right place. I’m not saying you won’t do well, and I’m not even saying you’ll do above-average. You will do well, and well only. This will be cleared up in a moment.
What are “good grades”?
This happens to depend on what you want to do after high school. If you want to go to a prestigious college, then good grades are B-As. No lower. If you want to go to some typical college, C-Bs are acceptable. Otherwise, if your plan is getting a job or chasing some other pursuit, just do enough to graduate. In that case, you’re also probably not in the right place.
High school is extremely easy and requires very little effort to pass as long as you are awake. Don’t worry though, some of us have big dreams and I hope that yours go a long way too. I’ll be making a post on this soon (may be my very next one).
That’s pretty much the general basis behind it. College = decent or good grades. No college = just graduate but don’t flank too badly.
Additionally, if your goal is to go to college, you want to make sure that you’re doing something on the side too. Keep yourself busy as school isn’t the only thing that’s accounted for.
Challenge Yourself (but don’t exaggerate)
When I say “challenge yourself”, I mean giving yourself a level of work that requires consciousness to think about.
For example, choose classes that require you to think at times. English classes, at least for me, usually never did this. I was always on the verge of just putting my head down and falling asleep. It was so easy to do that. And if you asked anyone else in those classes, they’d absolutely agree with me too. Not just me.
However, I’m also not telling you to take classes that destroy your confidence and push your far past your limits. No. School isn’t meant for surpassing limits. Its main purpose is to teach new information, try to get you to remember it, and then carve it permanently. Sometimes it works, most times it doesn’t. Whether you remember it long-term doesn’t really matter. As long as you score high on the test or mini-quiz, you’ll do just fine in that class.
For example, don’t take AP Calc AB (which keep in mind is the easier option compared to BC Calc) if you’re someone who naturally doesn’t adore math, or that has trouble grasping calculus concepts. Don’t “push yourself”. That’s a bad idea when the system rewards you not for taking hard classes but for getting the best possible letter grade. You are rewarded for your results and not how hard you try. I don’t mean to come off as rude or anything; just stating the truth that no one really admits. Take the classes you know you can do well in.
Reminder
Again, school itself is really easy. You don’t need to worry unless you start screwing up on purpose. In my humble opinion, honors classes are really easy, and some AP classes too are easy. This of course depends on the teacher. Some teachers are the easiest there ever was; while others will punish you for the slightest mistake. I highly recommend asking peers because they’re your fountain to success.
Utilize Leverage
This is a saying that I typically find “get-rich-quick” gurus online, but all in all, it’s a good saying. Leverage is an important anchor to your success, not just in school but also in life.
To make it quick, leverage is really just “using something (X) to your maximum advantage”.
Based on that definition alone, leverage can be your peers, friends, google search, youtube, whatever might help you.
What worked really well for me for a long time was youtube videos and such. But everyone knows that.
However, in my junior year of math, we had formed a large group within the class. With this group, we’d send each other resources and provide help to problems when we didn’t know the answer to something. If none of us had it, we were all screwed. But, that very rarely ever was the case. We each had each other’s back and was there if someone else needed us.
Now I’m not suggesting you create your own group or anything like that, just that you get to know a few people, exchange contacts, and talk. If you don’t understand something, why does it matter? You have someone else who already has figured that problem out and broken it down before you’ve even asked them. Just give it a shot.
School Gets Easier When You Reframe Your Mind
There’s a decent chance you’ve seen something regarding mental visualization and reframing your mind. And it absolutely works. Set the right tone and conditions for your mind and you can manifest anything to be real.
Treat school as being easier, treat it like less of a concern than it might’ve been in the past. Put some effort, but as I said previously, don’t give it your all. This makes your brain prioritize school all the more when this is what you don’t what. If you have long enough of a lever, and a fulcrum, you can lift the world. You don’t need to lift the world, you just need to lift your own weight. And you don’t even need to do it consistently. Find which lever (leverage) works best and use it.
Using this “lever”, you can get past even challenging obstacles and slice through hard assignments as if they were nothing. And if it’s a time-consuming assignment, then your best tool is probably just AI. Chances are, you might already use it. But if you don’t, just choose anything that you feel might best streamline everything.
I don’t know what else to put here except to just treat school nonchalantly. That’s really all there is to say.
Conclusion
School isn’t really that hard. Every single one of your elders and family members above age 30 and with a heavy hit of maturity probably says it is; and to an extent, they were right. Only recently do kids have access to internet, modern technology and browsing, making research easy to perform and information abundant. If you want to know something nowadays, you can find the answer. You just need to look. School is only hard for those who push too far into enemy territory and attempt to carry their own weight and the immense weight of the obstacles school hits them in the face with. You don’t need to do that. You could, but for what?
Please remember that this post goes only for those who are ambitious enough to do well academically, and simultaneously dedicate their focus to another interest of theirs at the same time.
If your goal this school year is to just do well and nothing less, with no further distractions, I’ll recommend you this post.
