High School is your stepping stone to college. Your record from high school represents you. That means your high school grades are important! Not only are your grades important, but teachers who see you doing good work can write the much-needed college recommendations. Also, when you do well in high school, you tend to do better on your SAT and ACT scores, another part of your college application package.

*Put homework first. Set a time to do your homework for a couple hours each night, and do it before you do anything else. You may have to reduce friend time, work time or sports time.

*Manage you time. Use your weekends for winding down and for fun. Reduce TV time and computer time.

*Find a good place to concentrate. If you need quite or to a quiet room, and if that’s not possible at your house, go to the local library or to a friend’s. If you like background noise, use soft music and keep away from TV because TVs are more distracting than background sound.

You should begin by talking to your teachers. A teacher might be able to see how you are possibly approaching your work in the wrong way and turn you around. Talking with your teachers can also lead to extra credit work or extra time for catch up if you need it. Finally, teachers can give you extra help outside the classroom.

You also need to speak with your guidance counselor, RIGHT AWAY. Your counselor needs to know if you are having any kind of problem. She or he might be able to realign your schedule. If you are a morning person, it might be best to change you worse classes to that time of day, for example. Your counselor might also assess whether you need a level or teacher change you help you do better.

Get a tutor. Tutors can help. They are good for catching up on things you have lost or have not understood in the past. They also give you one-on-one help, so you and your problem get more attention. Many schools offer tutoring services, whether through the guidance counselor or through peer services in the student body. There are private tutors you can hire in the community, but you and your parents will have to work out how to pay for their services. And, there are also on-line tutors.

One of the better on-line tutor sites is Tutor.com. CollegeBasics likes this option for several reasons. The first is it’s available on demand, at any time, 24/7. If you are studying for a test and are not sure about something, you can simply go to your computer or text from your cell phone, and have a chat with a real tutor—yes, a real person. With this kind of immediate interaction you will not have to go into a test the next morning still confused. Tutor.com has other helpful options, too, such as file share for editing and a magic board for looking at math solutions and the like. Tutors are available for grades 4-12 in math, history, English, and science, from the most basic level to the AP level. You will have to create an account and use a credit card, so get parental permission, but you only pay for the minutes you use. The basic cost is $29.99 for 50 minutes, but if you use only 15 minutes, that’s all you pay for. Every session is recorded so you can go back and review what your tutor helped you with, and if you are not satisfied you can rate your session. Monitors review the sessions and will credit your account if the information your received really wasn’t helpful. At Tutor.com you can also get a 25 minute free trial of on demand tutoring in any subject. You can't lose and it just might help!

Whatever you do or in whatever combination you do, just do something. Don’t let your grades slip. That becomes a ball rolling down hill getting bigger and bigger and harder and harder to push back up on the tracks. It’s best to stay focused on your homework and use either self-help or help from others before it’s too late.