Take this time at the start of your Junior year to research what you want to do after graduating from high school. You need to answer the question:

"Is college, junior college or trade school right for me?"

To answer this question, research job statistics, employment trends, and collegiate majors using our quick link tools below. Then evaluate your aptitude skills for different career selections.

We have listed some planning steps that will help you stay on track as you explore your post-high school plans. You need to plan accordingly so that everything is ready to go in your senior year when it's time to submit your application.

• First Step:
  keep your grades up. Colleges will look at grades for admission; it is especially important that you increase (or at least maintain) your grade performance during your junior and senior years:
  we have a study guide area that can help
  
  
  
• Second Step:
  get to know your high school guidance counselor. They are valuable players in the college planning process. Discuss with them your planning and testing dates. You will use them extensively as you research colleges.
  
  
  
• Third Step:
  practice taking those all important college entrance practice exams. It will help on the day of the real exam. The PSAT (for SAT I, SAT II exams) is usually offered in October and November. ACT prep exams are offered through testing services and online. Check which exam is administered in your area.
  
  
  
• Fourth Step:
  consider taking Advanced Placement Exams or the CLEP tests, if applicable. This may save you time and money by testing out of college courses you won't need.
  
  
  
• Fifth Step:
  meet with college representatives that visit your school. Get a feel of the kind of college you would like to attend.
  
  Also consider attending local college fairs and visiting local college campuses. This will expose you to college life and style.
  
  
  
• Sixth Step:
  keep a record of what you find in your research. This will help compare programs when you need to make a decision:
  
  
  • Use our FREE download tool for tracking:
    
    click here 

Meet with your guidance counselor (or school administrator or teacher) as soon as you can to discuss your post-high school plans.

Items to coordinate with your guidance counselor:

• the availability of and enrollment in Advanced Placement classes
  
  
• the schedules for the college entrance exams (includes PSAT, SAT I and II, and ACT). Discuss with your counselor on the exams required to get into your college of choice
  
  
• the admission requirements to college including GPA requirements, credits, exam type and scores, etc. Try to fill in any gaps
  
  
• review your transcripts to make sure you are on track to graduate with the required credits and courses to get into your college(s) of choice
  
  
• understand what career type you should pursue based on your scholastic and aptitude abilities
  
  
• scheduling visits to college campuses and college admission offices after you select your college of choice
  
  
• discuss preparatory classes or seminars on the various exams to help boost your scores
  
  
• review all other information related to your college planning tasks

Discuss with your guidance counselor about the following college exams:

1. Advance Placement Exams:
   you should consider taking Advanced Placement Exams or CLEP tests in your Junior and Senior years. This allows you to test out of some college courses that can save you time and money.
   
   The exams are administered each year in the Spring with some preparation required prior to the exam. Check with your school for exam administration, enrollment and information.
   
   
   Information about the advanced placement program:
   the collegeboard administers the AP exams. This site has all the information you need including test programs and dates:
   visit collegeboard.com for more information
   
   View our advanced placement prep/study guides:
   includes prep planning books and other reading materials that can help you with these exams:
   click here for advanced placement materials
   
   
   
2. College Entrance Exams:
   almost all colleges and some trade programs require a college entrance exam. These exams measure your ability to understand college-level materials.
   
   
   

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   The SAT Tests

   SAT Reasoning (formerly SAT I).
   The SAT Reasoning Test is a three-hour test that measures a student's ability to reason problems instead of general knowledge. It has three sections: writing, critical reading, and math. Most of the questions are multiple-choice.

   SAT Subject Tests (formerly SAT II). The SAT Subject Tests measure the student's knowledge in specific subjects: English, mathematics, history, science, and languages. SAT Subject Tests are primarily multiple-choice, and each lasts one hour.
   
   more information: collegeboard.org
   

   The ACT Assessment®
   The ACT Assessment® is used by some colleges. The exam has four multiple-choice tests: English, reading, mathematics, and science reasoning.
   
   more information: actstudent.org

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You will take these exams in your junior year. So get some practice with the college entrance "preparation" exams. It will help on the day of the real exam.

Why take college prep exams:

• to help prepare for the real test. You will be familiar with the type of questions being asked
  
  
• to help you take tests under timelines. It is important that you work quickly so that you can complete the entire test.
  
  
• to view your strengths and weaknesses for college study. You can then focus on areas to improve your skills.
  
  
• to view how your performance compares with other students who are applying for college
  
  Information about the PSAT (practice exams):
  the PSAT is the test prep exam for the SAT tests. The PSAT is usually offered in October and November through your school. Check with your school counselor for dates.
  see collegeboard.org for information
  
  ACT test preparation:
  some colleges use the ACT test. You need to check your college to determine which test they use for admittance. Many students will take both the SAT and ACT so that they have the right exams for the college of their choice
  actstudent.org about ACT exams
  
  
  need help:
  view our college exam center for test prep materials

Research future career opportunities to help decide what you want out of college. Find out what jobs are going to be hot and what jobs are not. This will help decide whether to go to college, vocational school or jump right into your career:

• From the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
  occupational outlook by category: provides insight on the training need, work environment, earnings, expected job prospects and more. It's a valuable resource to help decide what career you may like.
  www.bls.gov/oco
  
  projections on what's hot and what's not. Includes employment statistics and the fastest growing careers:
  www.bls.gov/emp
  
  

  provides information on careers from an occupational perspective
  www.bls.gov/oco/cg
  
  
  

• Individual State Labor Statistics:
  occupational projections by state and region — helps determine where you may need to locate for the best growth
  www.projectionscentral.com
  
  Link to individual State economic, job and occupation trends:
  
  State Job Sites: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

View some career and personal self-assessment tests to determine your aptitude and character for career opportunities. The last thing you want is to start college in a career that you will not like.

By understanding your personality type, it will help determine what career opportunity will bring you the most satisfaction.

• Start with defining your personality type:
  take this online quiz to get a non-test based review of your personality type and careers that may be of interest www.personalitytype.com
  
  another test-based online character assessment:
  www.advisorteam.com
  

About Self-Assessment Tests:
you can view more information about personal assessments and how they can measure your personality traits for jobs and other life-events:

• Kinds of self assessment tests:
  summary of personality assessment test and which tests work for careers:
  www.humanmetrics.com
  
  about the Myers & Briggs self assessment test:
  www.myersbriggs.org
  about the Keisey Temperament assessment:
  www.keirsey.com

What to shape a better you?

• How to build a well-rounded character:
  discusses how planning, discipline and timely execution can build a better you for success:
  
  FREE Download
  Complete guide on discipline and character building. Has illustrations on the building blocks of success.
  
  FREE: click to download book summary
  FREE: click to download book

• Evaluate Your Career Interests
  your first step in finding the right career is to evaluate what you would like to do and what career fits your overall aptitude start with careerkey.org
  
  
  
• Understand your interests and career relationship
  you can take this online career assessments for a small fee - not recommended at this stage of your planning
  view the Strong Interest Inventory®
  
  federal government web site that reviews your road trip to career success:
  view information at careervoyages.gov
  
  
  
• Other Helpful Career Assessments:
  use this skills assessment to understand job types that you may best be qualified for based on your temperament assessment:
  http://online.onetcenter.org
  
  what to do with your skills into shaping a collegiate major:
  www.udel.edu
  

Now lets explore what's required for your career type
See what will be required in order to achieve your dream. It will summarize collegiate classes that you should take:

• Visit collegeboard.org for in-depth review of collegiate majors.
  requires log-in to myroad.com
  
  What do you want to be?
  Interest measurement based on varying fields of study: www.jvis.com
  
  
• Do you have the aptitude skills for your selected major?
  Learn more about this Vocational Aptitude exam that measures several aptitudes in mathematics, general science, reasoning, and other.
  
  The exam is used by the armed forces in place candidates in select career fields — by taking the exam, however, does not imply that you are enlisting for any armed service:
  www.asvabprogram.com

Make your junior year count. Study hard, get good grades, and keep pace with what's going on:

• Stay in tune with high school events:
  http://highschoolhub.org

While working on your planning search:

• Record the information you find. Download these tracking sheets:
  
  FREE download