Developing as an Individual
Eat a healthy breakfast every morning. Wake up early enough in the morning so that you have time to eat breakfast before heading to school. Cereals that are high in fiber and protein (avoid really sugary cereals), eggs and toast, and oatmeal are all good options that will power your brain and keep you full until lunch. If you don’t have enough time to make breakfast because you overslept, try to eat a piece of fruit and a handful of nuts on your way out the door.
Get 8-9 hours of sleep every night. Based on when you need to get up, go to bed early enough so you can get at least 8 hours of sleep so you’ll be well-rested for the next day. Try setting an alarm for 15 minutes before you need to be in bed so you can start winding down. Try turning your phone off or on “do not disturb” when you go to bed so you aren’t interrupted by incoming notifications or texts.
Exercise 4 to 5 times per week for 30 minutes at a time. Eighth grade is a great time to start exercising regularly so it becomes a habit as you get ready to enter into high school! If the weather is nice, try going for a 30-minute walk around your neighborhood after school or ask your parents if you can join the local recreation center. Exercising gives you endorphins, which can also help you deal with stress.
Experiment with your personal style. Maybe you want to try a new hairstyle, start wearing makeup, or wear different clothes than you did before. This is a great time to make some changes to see what you like. Have fun and be creative and remember that you can always change back if you don’t like it! A fun and inexpensive way to update your style is to visit thrift stores. Go with a few friends and find some new pieces to add to your wardrobe.
Try out new hobbies to expand your experiences. Now is a great time to try new things—like a new sport, a musical instrument, or a crafting hobby. You could take guitar lessons or drawing classes, or look online for tutorials on something you’re interested in to teach yourself a new skill! If you already have a hobby you love, you could try to pursue it more passionately. For example, if you taught yourself how to play an instrument, maybe you could take lessons. Or if you like to do crafts, choose a more complicated project to work on. wikiHow has great tutorials, as do sites like Skillshare and YouTube.
Expectations for 8th Grade
Understand that homework will get more challenging. As with every academic year, the homework will get more complicated. There will be more information in each lesson for you to understand and review. To remember this information, you will need to take organized notes. Use bullet points and draw graphs or charts to let you understand the information. Highlight important key words, like "velocity" or "distance" if you're taking beginner physics notes, or "variable", "slope", or "equation" if you're taking algebra notes. Don't worry- there will still be review of things you learned in 7th grade, as with every year of school. At the beginning of 8th grade, you will review things you have learned in 7th grade, so the first month of school will be easy if you have understood and remembered all of the concepts. After the review, however, you will learn a multitude of unfamiliar concepts.
Know that tests will increase in number. There were probably less tests in 6th or 7th grade than there are now in 8th grade. You may have had tests every 2 weeks and large assessments every few months. That may increase to a few quizzes, tests, and large assessments. You will need to study more often to retain the information learned for tests. You should review what you have learned for at least 15 minutes daily in case you forgot a concept or are unsure of how to do it.
Know that you will be the oldest kids in your middle school. You may not be the oldest people out of the whole mandatory education system yet (only if you're in 12th grade), but you're around 13-14 years old! This sounds cool to many kids, as they are older, more mature, and know more things than the younger kids. They are also experts in opening lockers, going to office hours, and handling some extracurriculars. Even though you may be the oldest, you do not have more rights than the younger kids. You still need to obey the school rules, or you may get in trouble. Don't bully kids from lower grade levels. They likely want someone to help them, and bullying them is mean. Remember the time when you were new to middle school, in 5th, 6th, or 7th grade. You were probably shy, lost, scared, and not used to middle school. You would not want someone older (the 8th and 9th graders) to bully you, right?
Talk to an older sibling about their experience in 8th grade. If you have an older sibling, chances are that they are experienced high schoolers. They may just be a freshman, or they could be a junior, senior, or even in their first year of college already. If your sibling has a large age difference (more than 6 years), they may not remember their 8th grade experience. If you are younger than your sibling by 2-5 years, that's a good age range, since your older sibling/s will likely remember their high school and 8th grade years. Talk to them about your concerns, like homework and peer pressure. Ask your older sibling to share some funny experiences that they had in their last years of middle school. Look at some photos of your older sibling's 8th grade graduation to get some knowledge of the experience.
Understanding Academics in Eighth Grade
Review and learn eighth grade math. Eighth grade math will definitely be more challenging than in seventh and sixth grade. This math actually prepares you for high school, and it is going to be a direct precursor to it. If you're in an advanced math course, you may already be learning public high school math such as algebra 1 or geometry. For those in regular public school math class, you're going to be starting pre-algebra. Practice graphing lines onto coordinate planes. You should also practice calculating the slopes and y-intercepts of different lines. Find out how to solve systems of equations by substitution, graphing, or elimination. You should also work on solving proportions. For public school eighth grade geometry, you may learn transformations. These include the rotations, reflections, translations, and dilations of shapes. For those in a slightly more challenging math course, you will learn algebra 1. Review things you learned in pre-algebra (solving systems of equations and proportions). Next, learn how to graph quadratic equations and absolute value equations. You may learn additional equations, such as equations with square roots and cubes. Then, understand and memorize the quadratic formula. You'll use this to find the answers to more complicated quadratic equations which you can't find the answers to using factoring. For those in an even more challenging math course, you will learn geometry. Review things you learned in algebra, such as quadratic equations and solving systems of equations. Next, get to know some basic terms (which you may have touched upon in elementary school) such as lines, segments, points, and rays. Then, memorize important theorems and postulates. These will be important when you learn how to write proofs. You will learn how to prove many things. At the beginning, you may prove how lines are parallel using the Converse of the Alternate Interior Angles Theorem. Next, you may learn important triangle congruence theorems, such as SSS, SAS, ASA, AAS, and HL (for right triangles). Then, you may get to proving that a quadrilateral is a parallelogram, rhombus, rectangle, or square.
Review and learn eighth grade grammar and writing concepts. You may learn more grammar concepts this year than you've learned in previous years. You could also learn more writing skills than grammar skills this year. Either way, you'll be perfecting your grammar and writing. In grammar, you may learn about different verb tenses. You might learn about dash, hyphen, and comma usage too. Parts of speech such as possessive nouns and clauses may be taught. In writing, you will probably polish your persuasive essay skills. You'll write multiple essays over the course of eighth grade containing a thesis, multiple claims, lots of evidence to support the claims, and explanations detailing why the evidence supports the claim. You'll end the essay with a strong and concise conclusion.
Review eighth grade reading and vocabulary. Eighth grade reading and vocabulary will be pretty similar to what you learned in seventh and sixth grade. However, there will be new things learnt, as usual. You may learn some more complex vocabulary words, and read longer books with fascinating plots. For reading, read books with multiple main ideas and motifs. These types of books include The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly, Absolutely Normal Chaos by Sharon Creech, and Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Older books for eighth graders include The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, Animal Farm by George Orwell, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and The Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Those are good 8th grade reads since they are books with depth and complexity in them.
Review eighth grade science. Each school district teaches a slightly different curriculum, but most teach a combination of biology, physics, chemistry, and earth science. These topics may be different to what you've learned in earlier middle school. The concepts will be more complex. There will also definitely be more terms to memorize! For biology, you may learn about genetics and heredity. Review terms like "Punnett squares", "acquired", "traits", "alleles", "dominant", and "recessive". In physics, you may learn about energy transfers and energy transformations (e.g. from kinetic energy to mechanical energy). Heat transfer may also be taught. In chemistry, you may learn different types of elements and chemical bonds. Remember how to identify reactants and products and different chemical reactions. Some schools teach beginner astronomy. Review the Solar System, constellations, and different kinds of eclipses.
Review and learn eighth grade history. Eighth grade history also depends on the school you're in, so don't expect it to be completely the same as last year. Each school focuses on a different part of history. Some may learn American history, whereas other focus more on geography, modern world history, or the medieval period of world history. You may learn about the 18th century in American history. This is the time period when the American Revolution happened. You'll get to see who the important founders of the U.S.A. were (such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson). Some schools teach geography. Get to know where certain countries are on a map. Other schools teach modern world history. This starts from after World War I and extends to the Cold War. Learn about the causes of World War II, the Holocaust, the factors that led to the Cold War, and important historical figures in each of these events.
Acing the 8th Grade
Use an alarm to help get yourself to school in time. If you don’t already, start setting your own alarm for the morning. Give yourself enough time to wake up, shower if you need to, get dressed, eat breakfast, and gather your things together before you need to head out the door. In school, make sure to get to class before the late bell rings. This will help you be more responsible which will be helpful when you get to high school. If you know you tend to run late, try setting your alarm for 15 minutes earlier than you normally do to give yourself a little extra buffer. If you can’t resist hitting that snooze button in the morning, put your alarm clock on the other side of the room so you have to get out of bed to turn it off.
Pay attention during class. Listen carefully during class to make sure you know all of the instructions. In middle school, especially a private middle school, you'll need to pay attention to every detail. You don't want to miss some instructions on formatting essays or instructions on doing a project! Even small details count- some strict schools may subtract points off assignments and tests if you miss out on writing small details, like writing the "m" next to an angle measure, positive and negative signs, typos, or indenting paragraphs. Ignore people who try to distract you. Your best friends or the class clown may try to distract you by making funny faces, passing notes, tapping your shoulder, or whispering to you. Ignore them, and after class, tell them to stop talking during class, since it distracts you. Avoid talking during class. Sure, it may be really challenging in class to not share a cool story to your friends, laugh at a funny joke, or talk about a dank meme with your friends. But those can wait until after class. Whenever you're about to start a conversation during class, think to yourself, "I need to pay attention to get a good participation grade." Try to pay attention even though people around you are talking. You should tell the teacher about the noisy classmates if they are disrupting your concentration or disrupt your ability to hear the teacher.
Study often. Tests are only going to increase in frequency, not decrease in frequency as you get older. There may be an increase in pop quizzes and/or an increase in tests and assessments. You may have gotten used to tests every 2 weeks, but in 8th grade and high school, you might have tests weekly or have a lot of tests in the same week. To earn an excellent score on a test, study. Don't study for four hours or the whole night though. That's not useful, since studying for long periods of time will be boring, and your brain will lose concentration easier. Don't try to stuff a ton of information into your short-term memory at once, as this can also make you very nervous and stressed. Study smarter, not harder, so it's best to study for 15-30 minutes at least a week before the test instead of cramming four hours of content into 2 nights of studying.
Take detailed notes. In early middle school, you may have taken undetailed or short notes that would help you with tests. Short notes won't help you will all of the concepts you have learned in 8th grade. If you write down key terms but don't write the meanings of them, you won't understand when to use the words. If you write down only one example of a math problem using the distance formula, you may be unsure of how to use the distance formula for other types of lines. They won't describe nor summarize all of the small details that you will need to understand. Use bullet points for important details, highlight key terms, and jot down 2-4 examples of the concepts that you have learned. Ask the teacher to repeat a concept or to slow down if you aren't done taking notes yet.
Be responsible for your school assignments. Middle school is a great time to develop this skill, but if you haven't yet, you should do it this year. Teachers don't have the time to remind every student of every assignment and test due. This is true in middle school, since you have a teacher for each subject instead of one teacher that teaches every subject in your class in elementary school. Your science teacher may have other classes of students to teach or other grade levels to teach- so does your math teacher, history teacher, and language arts teacher. If your school posts all assignments (even ones where you turn in a hard copy) online, check the website your school uses for all of the assignments daily. Check each teacher's classroom's whiteboard for any assignments and tests written on there. Write them down in a planner or notebook. Create binders or folders for each class you will be taking. Get new binders and folders from the store once you know what classes you’ll be taking, and set aside an afternoon to organize and decorate them. Create three different sections for each class: assignments, tests, and notes. This will help you stay organized throughout the school year. Get in the habit of cleaning out your binder and filing new papers on a daily basis to help keep you organized.
Plan ahead for big projects, papers, and assignments. If your school gives you an assignment book, use it to schedule out the big assignments you’ll need to complete that year. If you have a paper due at the end of the month, make a note to start writing it 2 weeks ahead of time. And if there are books you need to read for class, plan to start reading them 1-2 weeks before they’re due so you don’t have to rush to finish them. If your school doesn’t give out assignment books, you can buy one or use a notebook to write out the dates and schedule your homework.
Use your time in class wisely. Class times vary from 40 to 50 minutes, and that is plenty of time to work. Your teacher may have spent half of that time lecturing, but spend the rest of the time working on the assignment your teacher told you to do. Don't waste it by surfing on banned websites, chatting with friends, fidgeting with a Rubik's cube, or doing anything unrelated to school. This will waste your time in class, and if you have a busy schedule, you may not have enough time to do classwork and homework at home. Don't spend 10 minutes or even 5 minutes chatting with your friends. You might get carried away and waste all of your time in class talking instead of doing classwork. If you have extra time left over, do other assigned homework from school, read a book, or relax.
Make your reputation outstanding. This is useful for earning your reputation for friendships, but this can also help in applying to a private high school. Don't do anything that would harm your reputation, as this decreases your chances of entering the high school, college, or university of your dreams. Refrain from doing anything that would get you in trouble, like vandalizing, gossiping, bullying, stealing, or disrupting the class. If you're attending a private high school, do extra by participating more in class and asking questions. Your teacher will know you more if you do this, and subsequently write a longer, more detailed recommendation letter. The high school admissions teams will then look at this letter and decide whether or not to recruit you based on your personality, grades, and character. If you don't do anything special and don't participate, your teacher won't know what to write about you. As a result, the high schools you want to apply to may not accept you in.
Deal with puberty. Most kids have started puberty at this time, or are starting it at this age. Don't worry if you are nervous about this- most kids are. Puberty can make your body feel awkward are weird, and you may feel as if you are still a kid compared to the huge, adult-like teenagers in 8th grade, or vice versa. It's ok if you are short/look like a 9-year-old compared to your classmates, or if you look like a high schooler at the ages 12-14. People grow up and develop at different rates, but you will still go through puberty at one point or the other. Manage your period. You will need to change your period products every 2-4 hours. Try to change them during breaks or longer class transitions. Bring some pain medication approved by the school if you have cramps. Cite "female issues" or drinking too much water if the teacher asks why you're going to the bathroom very often. Get a sports bra. If your breasts are large enough, you may want a sports bra for gym class/PE. They may bounce around and move a lot, so you'll need this item of clothing for them to stay still. For times where you aren't exercising, getting a regular cup bra is fine (if your breasts have developed enough). Hide erections. Males may be shy and embarrassed about this, since these appear during random times, like during PE class, in the classroom, or in the hallways where everyone can see. Use a large bag to cover it or think of boring things like a test that's coming up or what 314 x 42 is.
Create a study plan for quizzes and tests. When you know you have a test coming up, set aside an hour each day for the week before the test to prepare. Try studying for 30 minutes at a time and then taking a 10-minute break. You can also create vocabulary flashcards (or even include important dates and facts to quiz yourself). Try reading over your notes from class each evening to help yourself retain the information better. If the test is really long, you may want to start studying 2 weeks ahead of time, or perhaps give yourself more time per day to study. If you get test anxiety, try this: breathe in for 4 seconds, then breathe out for 8 seconds. Do this 2-3 times to calm yourself down whenever you're feeling anxious about a test. Find a study buddy or a contact for each class you have. In each class, find someone you can exchange numbers with so if you have questions or have to miss a class, you will have someone you can get information from. You could also plan study sessions with this person to help quiz each other before big tests.
Making 8th Grade Fun
Know your morals. Don't do anything that goes against your ethical beliefs. Basically, do not do anything that harms yourself or harms others. Do not listen to anyone that tells you to do these types of things. They are not ethical and they are likely to get you in trouble. Understand this and report people who tell you to do unethical things. Do not: Disrupt class Bully other classmates Steal others' things Drink underage Have underage sex Vandalize the school building Gossip about classmates Break school rules
Attend electives in your middle school. Electives are additional classes that you attend that reflect your interests. They are similar to clubs, but they are more formal and you learn more useful things in elective classes. If you're applying to a private high school, joining a couple of electives can help you get into the private high school of your choice. Common electives in middle school include a computer science, graphic arts, visual arts, performing arts, cooking, journalism, Spanish, Chinese, and crafts electives.
Join clubs at your school. In addition to regular school, you can join clubs. Clubs are afterschool activities that reflect your interests. Middle schools often have a lot of clubs for you to choose from. These are a space for doing what you enjoy while learning a few things and doing fun projects. Some clubs your school may have include a book, newspaper, writing, journalism, student council, synopsis, environmental, math, ACSL, robotics, coding, history, art, music, speech and debate, drama, and a choir club. If there isn't a club suited to your interests, ask a teacher or head of your school (usually the principal or headmaster) if you can make a club.
Make friends in 8th grade. 8th grade is the final year of middle school, so many of your classmates you've seen in 5th, 6th, and 7th grade may have switched schools to better middle schools or schools closer to the high school they are attending. You might feel as if making new friends in 8th grade is useless, since they will leave again, and you won't have any friends in high school. This is not the case, as you guys can contact each other online. You may even be going to the same high school, so you should still have a social life in 8th grade. Speak clearly and make eye contact with others when you speak with them. You’ll appear confident even if you don’t feel that way. Say hi to some lonely kids sitting alone. The ends of elementary, middle, and high school are the hardest to make friends, as everyone else has their old friends they've met many years ago. The 5th graders have their old buddies from early elementary school (4th grade-kindergarten), and the 8th graders have companions from early middle school and elementary school. So, it can be challenging to make friends if everyone else is sticking with their old friends. So, go outside of your comfort zone and talk to some new or lonely kids. This makes their day and lets them feel comfortable at the new school. Try to join in conversations and share your ideas with others. Brush up on your small talk to practice for meeting new people in high school, and try to speak up in class when you know the answer or have ideas of your own. This will help you gain confidence, which is important to having a happy social life because others are drawn to people with confidence. Sit next to some new people at lunch. Talk about what went on during your day. Say something like, "Algebra class was pretty challenging for me. How was math for you?" or "Are you in algebra class or geometry class? I got into geometry class." or "I enjoy playing basketball. I actually play on a competitive team outside of school. What do you enjoy doing?"
Avoid drama and gossip so you can focus on having fun with friends. In eighth grade, there might be a lot of drama as people try to define who they are and assert themselves on the social ladder. Try to stay away from gossip and drama if you can—in the end, you will have more friends and enjoy your last year of middle school more if you don’t involve yourself in that kind of thing. If you have a friend who gossips, either about you or about someone else, you may want to consider distancing yourself from them or explaining to them that they’re hurting your feelings. If your old friends are starting to get into trouble by going to teen parties or experimenting with drugs or alcohol, it may be time to find some new friends to hang out with. You don’t want to get in trouble, risk getting suspended or grounded, or put yourself into harmful situations. You could also try to talk to a friend who is participating in dangerous activities and tell them you’re concerned for them. Or, tell a trusted adult, like a parent or guidance counselor, if you’re worried about your friend’s safety.
Cope with immature classmates in 8th grade. 8th graders are usually 13 or 14, and those years are early teenage years. Even though there will be a few mature people in 8th grade, some tweens and teens will still be immature. Try to ignore these immature classmates and try to understand them. If they are very disruptive during class, tell a teacher. Understand that younger people in your class who are just turning 13 will be more immature than people who are older (turning 14). Also, boys go through puberty at later ages than girls, so there will be many boys in your class that are immature compared to girls. When puberty starts, you start mentally maturing, and males are usually slower in doing that. Boys that are early bloomers may go through puberty at ages 10-11 when that may be considered the normal age for puberty in girls. Late bloomers that are boys might start at 14 or 15 when that is considered very late or abnormal in girls. If you're one of the mature kids in your class, you may not understand the silly humor that they talk about, like weird memes, potty humor, and being disruptive in class. Accept some of the jokes they make sometimes, and try not to be too serious (some jokes diffuse the mood in a classroom, especially if there's an awkward silence). Understand that younger students or ones that like attention will make more immature jokes and disrupt the class more often. If they really hinder your focus in class, talk to a teacher about it.
Avoid being a bully and stand up for others who are picked on. Part of having a great final year of middle school is setting yourself up as a leader, and leaders don’t bully others. Instead, be kind to others and try to see the good in everyone. Chances are, everyone else feels just as nervous as you about transitioning from middle to high school! If you notice ongoing bullying at your school, report it to a school official and to a trusted adult.
Spend quality time with your friends. Since you're in the last year of middle school, many of your friends may be going to different high schools than you. Spend quality time with your best friends to cherish the wonderful memories you have together. Plan fun events with your friends outside of school. Eighth grade is a great time to start being more social with your friends. Your parents are probably willing to let you have a little more freedom, so with their permission, plan some evening and weekend events so you can spend more time with your friends. Fun ideas include taking a trip to an amusement park, hosting a movie marathon, going to a local park for a picnic, or having a game night. If you are trying to make new friends, inviting others to a fun event is a nice way to get to know people. Spending time with your friends in eighth grade helps strengthen your friendship as you begin to think about heading to high school. At break, record funny jokes or something really interesting your friends said. Take note of important moments in middle school, like when your best friend helped you with regaining your self-confidence or your best friends giving you an amazing gift for your 14th birthday.
Ask a trusted adult for help if you need it. Stressful homework, a load of extracurriculars, and preparation for high school can really tire you out, leading to stress and anxiety. Not asking for help can lead to added stress, since you won't know how to do homework that you need to make up. All of that extra homework you didn't do will stack up in addition to the homework you have daily, which can lead to massive amounts of anxiety. Ask a guidance counselor, a teacher, or a trusted adult for help in whatever area you’re struggling with. If you are struggling with organization or a particular subject, it is okay to ask for help! This is a great time to do that, actually, as you need to start preparing to take on more responsibility for when you get to high school. You could also talk to your school or your parents about getting a tutor for a specific subject you’re having trouble with. Even adults often have to ask for help, so it’s nothing to be embarrassed about! Go to a teacher's office hours to ask for homework help. Middle school teachers usually have office hours or help sessions for students who need help. Go to those sessions to get individualized help if you are shy about raising your hand in front of the whole class. If you have anxiety, depression, or another mental disorder, you may need to see a counselor or therapist. Start with talking to your school counselor. If your school doesn't have one, talk with your homeroom or advisory teacher. These teachers help with basic mental health problems or issues relating to school. Then, you can seek a therapist with the help of a trusted adult.
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