JUNIOR HIGH

Tips:

• Start taking foreign language classes -- it'll give you a jump on the high school level classes.
• Like sports? Go out for a team! It'll get you conditioned for competitive high school athletics.
• Start whipping study habits in line. Managing assignments from six or seven classes well now will make high school less shocking later.

Expert Advice:
"Laying the math foundation is terribly important. If a student leaves junior high without knowing fractions, he can't take algebra when he gets to high school; he'll have to spend time on pre-algebra... and then there's the chance that he may not be able to finish [his high school's] math sequence"

-- Tim Washburn, Director of Admissions and Records at the University of Washington