Seventh grade: it's a world of homework, angst over your social life, homework, clubs, and more homework. You're not the smallest, but you still have to look up to those 8th-graders. So what's a seventh-grader to do? Keep reading and find out.

1) Think about all your homework for the evening, and prioritize it. What must you absolutely do tonight? What stuff is due in two days? Then, get home, and do the first thing on your list first (who would've thought?). Then do something for you that takes less than ten minutes: check your email, listen to a few songs, etc. Then do the second thing on your list. Keep doing that until you have it all done (or at least most of it!).

2) Don't cram. Anyone who's ever taken a test before knows this: 99.9% of the pressure gets taken off if you don't cram. Instead, start studying at least three days before. And now, the three all important studying rules: Make sure you know what's going to be on the test (simple, but how annoying is it when you take it and say, 'We had to study THAT?') If you like to study with your friends, make sure you really are STUDYING, and not just hanging out.

3) Don't cheat. You can get caught, and if you cheat, it obviously means you don't know the stuff, and then if any of it shows up on the next quiz, you'll have to cheat again, increasing the chance of getting caught and sending you into a cycle of guilt and... bad things.

4) Find really awesome friends, even if it takes awhile. Social life varies so much, especially when you have these girls who trade friends like shirts. If you are in a group of friends who you don't love now, think how much it will suck in high school.

5) Get involved in extracurricular activities. Sometimes, people don't join because it's 'uncool'. Listen, there's no logic in that. If the people who say that aren't your friends, why do you care what they say anyway? And if they are - well, they sure don't sound like good friends. Make sure you're not so busy, though, that you can't find time to do the most important thing: your homework.

6) Have fun (while maintaining your grades).

7) If you're having bully issues, then do something about it. If it makes you cry, you have to tell an adult. If it is small, but it hurts, tell your parents. Just because they are the most pathetic excuses for human life you have ever seen dosen't mean they can't help.

8) If you don't have self-esteem, get some. You are smart, pretty (or handsome), talented and you rock! No more lame excuses!

Caty Wilcox is a writer living in Boulder, Colorado. When she's not writing, she's performing or enjoying her four house rabbits.

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