A month-by-month roadmap to start high school strong, build confidence, and lay the groundwork for future college opportunities.

To help ease their nerves, we've put together ten tips for students use while transitioning from middle school to high school.

There are certain habits that the smart students have and one of them is that they keep track of the grade every quiz, paper, test they get. In high school I watched my best friend write down every grade she got in her student planner. I asked her why and she said that she liked knowing how she was doing in school and what she would have to get on an upcoming test to keep up her grades. Soon I started doing it too. It made life easier in the long run because I knew how I was doing and if I slipped up on a quiz or a test and I knew exactly what I needed to get on the next one to turn around my grade. It sounds slightly obvious, but having a target in sight made it easier to hit it.

Students everywhere are under a lot of pressure. So it's important to take time to mentally prepare for the stresses of school. Remember, you can succeed academically without sapping your mental health.

Below are our SAGE Scholars 5 Back to School Tips for a successful school year. Please read, internalize, and share with us your thoughts on our advice (we would love to hear from you).

One of the best things about college is that you're no longer constrained by the limits of your high school self. You have the chance to become the person you want to be, not just the person you've always been. You have the opportunity to grow and change your habits, experiment with new study strategies, and develop a new rhythm to match your new college workload.

As an incoming college freshman, you probably have a lot of preconceived ideas about what college will be like. AP courses, college advising, television, your peers, and the internet probably have given you a good idea of what to expect on your first day of classes. Although all these sources may be a good foundation, here are some common misconceptions about college courses we have debunked.

Writing is one of the most important professional skills you can develop in college. Unfortunately, many students have learned to dread writing. Why? Probably because they have picked up some bad ideas along the way. This article, written by an English teacher of twenty-five years, explores some common myths about writing and how these myths hold young writers back.

While navigating the college experience, one of the more difficult challenges is understanding your study habits and how you learn. It can be easy to assume that your study habits will remain the same as in high school. However, college presents with different challenges that might throw you off about what you understand as studying. The key to effective studying is finding out how you learn and how you can make your learning process a reality. This can be a trial-and-error process as there is no way to know how you study best automatically. There are often several factors when it comes to how you learn: comfort, environment, noise levels, music, and time management.

You might get to college and think, “I have this whole essay thing down pat. I did well in high school.” Unfortunately, this is often not the case with many students. Taking advanced placement and honors classes in high school might have taught you the basics, but nothing can prepare you for the scholarly research that every paper requires in college, no matter the major. Every essay will require some format, informed research, and a clear thesis. While paper lengths vary drastically per course and major, humanities courses require a certain amount of content to be deemed sufficient. This article will attempt to walk you through how to write a successful paper for humanities courses. Even if you do not plan to major in something humanities-related, most college students must take humanities courses to fulfill general education requirements.