How to Be Successful in Seventh Grade

Take notes. Your teachers may not require notes for every subject, but it's still great to take notes using at least a thin notebook. The most important subjects to take notes on are math, science, and history. You can take notes in language arts too, although they'll be shorter, as you will likely only need to take notes for grammar or when reading a book for school. If you're reading an assigned book (e.g. The Diary of a Young Girl or The Giver), your teacher may require reading notes on the characters, plot, setting, and the main ideas of each chapter or section of the book. Jot down key terms and definitions. You should also provide a few examples.

• For math, draw diagrams and do a few example problems in your math notebook. If your school tells you to buy your own school supplies, buy a graph paper notebook. This will make it easier to line up numbers and draw shapes on coordinate planes. Your bar and line graphs will also be neater.
• For history, write down key events that happened, who was involved, and when they happened. For example, you could write, "11/11/1918 – World War I ends".
• Don't write complete sentences for your notes! Unless you're writing down example sentences for grammar, writing whole sentences will waste your time when you want to write down as many points as possible. It will also tire your hand out faster. Use abbreviations, semicolons, bullet points, and fragments of sentences to make your notes concise. Remember, you're not copying down the whole textbook!

Study for tests. During earlier grade levels such as third grade, second grade, first grade, and kindergarten, you probably did not study for tests, or at least not as much. Since elementary school concepts are easier to understand and there is usually less material, kids often have an easy time remembering most of the information. As early as third grade, tests may become harder to ace without studying for at least 10 minutes daily. Addition facts are easy to memorize, but using the area of a circle formula? That information is harder to retain in your brain over a long period.

• Another benefit of studying every day is that you are prepared for pop quizzes. If you only study when you have a test coming up, you may not be prepared if there is a pop quiz. If you already study with or without tests, it becomes a habit, and you'll already know the information.
• Ask your teacher for help if you have questions about the material or your assignment.
• Try studying with friends before a big test to have some fun and review together.

Use a planner. If your school gives you a school supply list, it may already include a planner on it. If your school doesn't and expects students to buy their own supplies, buy one. A planner is essentially a booklet in which you jot down important dates and assignments. These could be related to school, or they could even be about extracurriculars or clubs. Some planners already give you a full calendar with the dates for each school year printed on it, while others allow you to make your own calendar.

• To keep track of important dates, you could write something like, "ACSL club - Fibonacci sequence project due" on the day that project is due, or "Math test (Topic 4)" on the day that test is scheduled for.
• You can also keep separate planners; one for school assignments and one for fun events or extracurriculars. This makes your schedule organized, and you won't get mixed up with what's important and what's not.

Be organized. Make sure that on your homework folder, hopefully it has two pockets, that one pocket says "Finished" and "Not Finished". That way, you can keep track of what homework you need to complete and what homework you need to turn in.

• Label your school supplies. On each journal (try a different color for each topic) write on the front cover what subject it is for. You could also put each journal in the subject divider for their subjects. Being organized will help you be the best student you can be!

Make a schedule, so you know when you have to work on homework after school.^[9]

• Make a slot for mornings, afternoons, and evenings. Make sure to list everything in those slots on what you need to do. In the mornings, list everything you need to do in the morning. The same goes for afternoons and evenings, just make sure to write the times and what you need to do in the slots.

Be friendly to everyone. This is why someone who always frowns or annoys people will not get many friends. People who seem uninterested in talking to other people (the kids who always sit alone and do not contribute to conversations) will not get many friends either. Most kids like a friendly person that will help them through challenges and talk about their day with them. Say hi to someone while on the way to class, help someone with their homework, or help clean up the classroom after class. These are all ways to be friendly. Doing this will earn you at least a few friends.

• Contrary to what some kids think, being a big bully/mean girl does not earn you friends. Do not do this, as you don't want to ruin your reputation at the beginning of middle school! Sure, they may seem like friends to you on the outside, but on the inside, they may be as mean as you. They might make friends with you just to gain popularity, so they may fight with you to get the "most popular".

Hang out with classmates during breaks and lunch. These are the best times to hang out and get to know each other! If you don't stay in study hall or attend any clubs, you can hang out with your friends during break and lunch. You can even talk while you are going to the bathroom with them. Yes, some kids can talk anywhere; during class, in the bathroom, at lunch, during clubs/study hall, and on the bus to/from school if they use the bus to get to school. That doesn't guarantee that other kids like them though; they may make others annoyed or distracted from their schoolwork. So, only chat during appropriate times. Save conversations for breaks, lunch, and after-school times!

• Whispering or talking to your pal during class or during an inappropriate time (e.g. during an assembly or during a trip to the principal's office) may get you into trouble, so don't do it often. If you do this too frequently, your reputation may downgrade, because you may be known as "too chatty" or "a distraction".

Choose an elective. Middle schools often have a wide variety of electives for students to choose. You can choose something that you enjoy or want to learn about. It's normal for interests to jump around during middle school- there's still room for developing interests. During 8th grade and high school, however, you may want to settle down, since you'll need to decide on a career path.

• Middle schools offer a lot of electives- some include journalism, Spanish, engineering, speech and debate, visual arts, performing arts, graphic arts, orchestra, and craft electives.

Join multiple clubs in your school. From robotics to newspaper and drama, there will probably be at least one club that you're interested in. People of all grade levels and classes can join clubs, so you will find people that are older than you there. Middle schools will usually have more clubs than elementary schools, so expect there to be variety. These clubs demonstrate your interests and help you gain friends that share the same hobbies as you. For example, if you join the art club, you will find art lovers all over the club. If you attend the robotics club, a bunch of AI enthusiasts will be there.

• Be careful not to join too many clubs, or you won't be able to get any work done. Try and stick to 2 or 3 clubs you're particularly interested in.
• During a club, you can talk to the people sitting next to you. If you're rehearsing lines (say, for performing arts), rehearse with the people in the same scene and/or act as you. Rehearse your lines a couple of times, then talk a bit to get to know each other.

Join the student council. There are a few positions in the student council that you can run for: class representative, secretary, vice president, and president. Even though you're not the oldest, you aren't the youngest in your middle school anymore either! This means that the sixth graders will look up to you as trustworthy role models. If you feel like you're responsible and can handle being in the student council, try running! Plus, if you continually run for student council every year, you will have established that you won't give up. If you get elected for a different role each year, you might improve on your leadership skills. If you were elected as class representative in sixth grade and as secretary in seventh, you may be elected as vice president or even the president in eighth grade.

• If you're running for any of these positions, you will need a speech and possibly a campaign poster.
• Write your name in large letters on your poster and make it colorful for others to notice it and actually read what it says. You could also think of a creative slogan. For example, Whig party delegates William Henry Harrison and John Tyler had a catchy slogan in the 1840 U.S. elections; "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too", which was originally published as "Tip and Ty". ^[10]