Many peoples’ goals for 2025 are to improve their grades and school performance. And the new year is the perfect time for this! Gateway is less than halfway through the school year, and it is definitely not too late to “lock in” and become an “academic weapon.”
However, it can be difficult to know where to start. If you don’t understand the material, what do you do? Well, I would like to recommend resources you can use to succeed in school.
Staff Support
The first thing I would recommend is to talk to Gateway’s teachers. Now this might seem obvious, but they know exactly what you are learning and have helped countless students with the same topic. Often they can re-explain a topic, give sample questions, or check your work to see where you lost points, depending on the subject. Sometimes a simple email or a couple of minutes in class will help, but many teachers can meet during Morning Meeting, CHOMP, or after school if you need help!
Online Support
For any of the sciences, I generally use Khan Academy to review for tests. While it has most subjects on most levels, I think its science program is the strongest. It’s great because there are videos, many practice problems, and step-by-step solutions on a user-friendly website. You can also track your progress and get reminder emails to do the work!
Specifically for physics and chemistry, I will often watch videos from the Organic Chemistry Tutor on YouTube. Most of his videos are working through a problem, and so depending on how confident you are, you can either work through the problem and then check your answer with him or copy it down as he does it. So it is perfect if you understand the general material but struggle with specific scenarios.
For example, before break I had a physics test coming up, and I knew that several problems about elevators were going to be on there. While I understood the concepts we were learning, I could not apply them to elevators. The Organic Chemistry Tutor had several videos up about the subject, so I sat down and watched them all until I could solve it on my own.
He also makes videos for algebra, trigonometry, precalculus, and calculus. However, I have never watched them, so I could not recommend them.
The next major tool is the YouTube channel Crash Course. Now they have made videos on practically every subject you could study, from statistics to political theory to botany. But the subject I find them most useful for is history. They have U.S., World, and European history, in easy-to-understand 10 to 15-minute videos.
However, for more advanced history classes, they often don’t have enough details. So while they are a great place to start, the next place to go would probably be Hiemler History. His channel is specifically geared towards advanced placement history classes.
If you are working on memorizing something, Quizlet is a good place to check. Often other people have learned the same thing and you can use their flashcards. If not, it’s relatively easy to create your own.
School Resources
A good tool for some people is Varsity Tutors, which Gateway pays for. Personally, I don’t love it. I’ve struggled to find relevant practice for some basic topics in Algebra 2. That being said, it works and some people love it, so you should probably check it out. Additionally, 6 Gateway NHS students tutor during HS Chomps. You can check out the infographics posted around the school for more details.
These are just a couple of useful resources, but there are plenty more out there if these don’t work for you! I encourage everyone to find some more and share them with your friends!
