I remember sitting in the seats of the auditorium of my middle school. The feeling of dread and fear washed over me, draining the blood out of my face and causing my hands to get clammy. My high school academic counselor stood at the front of the room on a stage. Despite her deceivingly excited tone, we were discussing the dreaded thing that is high school. The next step was college. I couldn't tell you exactly what she said, but I do remember her talking about the sophomore slump in high school. She stressed that it was important to not "slump" because it was imperative that we receive good grades to get into college.

So, what is the sophomore slump?

Sophomore slump: a condition where a student is is overcome by an overwhelming sense of demotivation; symptoms include: sluggishness, lack of sleep, not completing homework, apathy

While these feelings may come and go year round for a student, my academic counselor was convinced that all sophomores would fall victim to "the slump."

I can attest that the sophomore slump is real. I fell victim to it in 2016, when I was finally a sophomore in high school. Now, I am a sophomore in college and the question remains: is the sophomore slump real? Does it still apply to college sophomores or just sophomores in high school?

Whether or not "the slump" is real here are some tips to keeping your head above the water while you try to survive school:

1. I was convinced sophomore year of high school that the sophomore slump was inevitable. My math teacher, however, said that it was a choice and we had all chosen laziness over productive and negativity over positivity. Maybe this second time around I'll take his advice. So here's the first tip: totally disregard this article. There is no such thing as the sophomore slump; you've never heard of it before!

2. Stay on top of your schedules! Look at each class schedule and put due dates and homework in your personal planner. It's good to never fall behind and know what's due each day.

3. Budget out your time! Spend at least 30 minutes on each class everyday. Assess what you have in every class and decide what you need to do and what you could do to get ahead in class. You may not like the monotony of this routine, but you'll thank yourself later. I've found that stress and procrastination make you vulnerable to the sophomore slump.

4. Lastly, take a break! Schedule out some time to recharge and destress. If you overwork yourself, you're bound to slump!

I'll never know if the sophomore slump is real or not, but I do know ways to keep myself motivated and keep life positive. Here's to another of school year of not slumping!