Help Your Sophomore Prepare for College

College may seem far off when your child is only in tenth grade. However, as any college parent can tell you—the next few years are going to fly. Besides, this is the time to lock in the good study skills and habits needed for high school achievement and college success.

You can lend valuable support all year long.

FALL

Get Organized
Purchase a planner in which your son or daughter can keep track of assignments, activities and events. At the same time, start a family college planning calendar to record important dates.

Academics
Make sure your child meets with a counselor to discuss college plans and build a course plan that ensures that he or she fulfills the minimum requirements for college admission. He or she should enroll in challenging courses, such as honors or Advanced Placement. Also, colleges want four years of English, history, math, science and a foreign language. If your son or daughter is showing weakness in any area, now's the time to consider a tutor or extra help. Courses will only get harder, and sophomore year is when many students fall behind—and never catch up.

Testing
Practice makes perfect! College entrance exam scores won't count for admission until next year, but your sophomore can sign up to take the PSAT, the PLAN (which is practice for the ACT) and SAT subject tests for practice. When scores become available, he or she can see areas for improvement. Your student should also be reading books and newspapers outside of class to develop reading comprehension and vocabulary skills.

FALL-WINTER

Research Colleges
Go online together to start collecting college information. Suggest the search be kept broad at first, considering lots of colleges and different locations. Gradually a picture of what he or she wants will start to emerge.

WINTER-SPRING

Narrow the Search
Suggest narrowing the search to about a dozen schools and contacting them for more information.

Careers
Talk with your child about possible careers that match his or her interests and strengths. Perhaps you have your own professional network to tap, with colleagues he or she can shadow at work. Suggest your student talk with neighbors, friends and community members about their lines of work. Most importantly, listen to all your child's ideas with an open mind.

Summer Jobs and Programs
Encourage your child to start thinking of how to make the most of summer with a volunteer service program, a part-time job connected to a future career, classes at a local college or a community arts program. A little research should yield lots of opportunities for deeper knowledge and personal development—plus a possible credential for college.

Sources:
http://www.actstudent.org/college/checklist.html
http://www.knowhow2goohio.org/wp-content/uploads/file/College%20Planning%20Timeline%20KH2G.pdf
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/plan/action/sophomores.html