As junior year is coming to a close, I thought I might give some advice to the sophomores about to embark the craziest year of their high school lives, thus far. It’s amazing, it’s stressful, it’s confusing, but most importantly it’s all something you can do, I promise. Here are 5 tips on how to survive junior year.

1. Work hard.

Maybe you didn’t do so well last year, maybe you did. Keep going. Hard work pays off, even if it doesn’t seem like it in the moment

2. Yes, you can have a social life and still do well in school.

It’s important to still have fun and be a teenager as long as you make time for your school work

3. Your emotional well-being is just as important.

Take care of yourself, it’s going to get stressful, but give yourself a break.

4. You WILL get through the SAT or ACT.

You can do it, that’s all I have to say

5. Enjoy yourself.

It’s high school. You don’t want to look back and say “I wish I did more” or “I wish I didn’t stress so much”

Balance is key.

You can do this!