How to Make the Most of Tenth Grade: Find Your Focus

Tenth grade can feel like a middle space. Freshman year is behind you, and senior year still feels far away. It’s easy to think you can simply continue with what you’ve been doing. But colleges begin evaluating your record starting in ninth grade, which means the choices you make this year matter more than they may appear. Tenth grade is when direction begins to take shape.

Think of a student named Venjar. He isn’t exceptional in every category. He’s a solid student with interests, questions, and some uncertainty — like most sophomores.

In ninth grade, he tried a range of activities. He joined the tennis team, went to Debate Club meetings, and volunteered at a local community center tutoring younger students. That year was about seeing what felt right. But when tenth grade started, he realized that being loosely involved in many activities didn’t leave much room to grow in any of them. He was participating, but he wasn’t progressing.

So that fall, he chose to focus. For him, that was robotics. He didn’t choose it because it sounded impressive or because someone told him it would “look good.” He chose it because he genuinely liked building things and solving problems. He began with small responsibilities — organizing equipment, helping troubleshoot code during meetings. Over time, those small responsibilities turned into real project ownership and leadership.

This is what finding your focus looks like. You don’t need to be the best right away. You just need to go deeper. As Ivy Link founder, Adam Nguyen, has noted in many of his interviews, colleges aren’t looking for students who stack as many activities as possible. They notice direction. Progress that continues is more compelling than a long list that does not.

Around winter, Venjar took a diagnostic PSAT. Not to aim for a perfect score. Just to see where he stood. He reviewed a little at a time. Early preparation isn’t about pressure. It’s about giving yourself room to improve without rushing later.

By spring, he started learning about different colleges. Not to make decisions yet, but to understand what different schools value. He noticed that the kind of student who thrives at Princeton doesn’t always look the same as the student who thrives at Columbia. Seeing those differences helped him decide how to spend his time. He wasn’t choosing a future. He was learning to pay attention.

Throughout the year, he worked on building consistent study habits. Nothing extreme. Forty-five minutes to an hour of focused work after school each day. Enough to stay ahead. When eleventh grade came, the increased difficulty felt manageable because the foundation was there.

There was no dramatic transformation. No sudden clarity. Just steady effort in a clear direction.

That’s what making the most of tenth grade looks like: choosing one or two interests to deepen, starting testing early and calmly, learning what different colleges value, and building study habits that make next year easier. It isn’t flashy, but it works.

At Ivy Link, this is where we begin with many students. We help clarify interests, build measurable accomplishments, and guide growth that lasts.

Tenth grade is not just another year. It’s when your direction begins to take shape — steadily, quietly, and with intention.

If you’d like support navigating that process, our team is here to help.