By ANNIE SWADE

How to keep new school year resolutions for success:

1. Stay organized. Jot down all assignments and important dates in a day-to-day planner.

2. Study with a buddy. Find a dependable classmate in every class for missed notes or help with assignments.

3. Use your resources. Take extra time to use all available resources, such as teachers, peers, tutors and librarians.

4. Don't procrastinate. Waiting until the last minute only adds more stress.

5. Remember to relax. Take deep breaths when under pressure. Always keep in mind that high school is supposed to be the best time of your life.

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Taking the SAT for the first time is pretty surreal. It has always been that foreboding milestone in the future that's going to arrive at some point, but it's hard to believe that it will actually come.

Then junior year rolls around before students know it, and they end up saying, "Oh, shoot. Now I actually have to take this thing."

Here are some tips on how to work through the SATs calmly and effectively.

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When your first bike ride turns into your first bike crash, the “practice makes perfect” remedy is readily available. If your test grades are less than satisfying, you can resort to the “try, try again” philosophy.

Unfortunately some situations aren’t as forgiving of your lack of experience or knowledge. Once you cast a ballot in an election, not only your vote, but also your opinion is sealed. (Sorry, but there are only recounts, not re-votes.) Opinions can change over time, but for that particular election, your views are locked in.

With a scenario that influential to your life, the permanency of casting a vote should inspire caution. Nevertheless, many people are rash with forming their opinions, and therefore rash with their votes.

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How to have an anti-Valentine's Day:

Joel, the lovelorn character from the movie "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," has a few words to say about February 14: "Valentine's Day...is a holiday invented by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap."

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Sometimes politics can seem far too complicated or advanced for a
teenager to know or care about. There are laws with Roman subscripts that reach
into the hundreds, complex policies, and a variety of different candidates and
viewpoints. It can be mystifying, but politics affect everyone. Even if you
can't vote, you can certainly get involved!

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When we first moved into our house, I badgered my mom about when my room was going to get painted. She decided out of the blue that I was going to paint my room. This how-to can help teens with home-decorating and independent-living skills in the future.

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There are a few essential things you need:
- a Myspace account
- a Facebook account
- a Gaia account
- Friends whom you've met from all over the world through these sites (but that fact remains that you don't really know them)

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"Same old, same old," we find ourselves saying as we head in for another
year of high school.

School for some of us, however, will be missing a friendly face or two - or many. If you have an older friend who graduated and is headed for employment, college, or the military, you're probably already missing them and marking the calendar with dates they're coming home.

Not to worry, there's still time to give them a grade A send-off before they leave.

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In the beginning, man could detect the coming of summer by rising temperatures and lengthening days.

Fast forward to the present, and Ferris wheels and cotton candy signify the season. However, the fun does not last. Carnivals are like desert mirages: They come and go, leaving a colorful memory amidst a dreary landscape. So you have to make the most out of the festival's short life span.

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The fibonacci sequence is a not-so-complex set of numbers that one can learn in some level of higher math. This sequence is most commonly used to create a spiral using squares (consult with your math book if you want more information). The set of numbers was, for a long time, only seen in math classes. However, the Fibonacci Sequence is making its move into modern poetry in a new poetic form called "the fib".

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