Junior year game plan — the month-by-month that kept us sane

October PSAT → first SAT in March → APs in May → college list by June. Written down it's four lines; lived, it's a year that eats families who wing it. Here's the calendar we ran.

The calendar

• October: PSAT — junior year's one IS the National Merit qualifier, treat it accordingly
• Winter break: start SAT prep (we'd move this EARLIER — November)
• March: first real SAT, while prep is fresh
• May: APs — nothing else scheduled that month, nothing
• June: a college list of 12–15, sorted reach/match/safety, visits mapped for summer

What we'd skip entirely

The junior-year "college essay bootcamp." Essays belong to summer — June you, with the year behind you, writes a better personal statement than March you cramming between APUSH readings.