In elementary school, back-to-school shopping was always so simple—follow a list from your singular teacher, and you’d be set for the year on school supplies. It just gets more complicated as you move up the grades, with different requests from each teacher, and so many unwritten expectations for what every high schooler should already have. But worry not, for I’ve compiled a list of universal must-haves for the upcoming school year.
- Portable scissors: School scissors are rarely reliable or even functional, so having your own will save you from having to wait in line for the singular working pair of the classroom. I am speaking entirely from experience, unfortunately.
- Tape: A ripped page, a mini graph, a cutout project—whatever the occasion may be, a need for tape will always worm its way into your school life, so prepare by keeping a small tape dispenser on hand.
- MECHANICAL pencil (0.5, HB lead): Almost every class requires you to have a pencil, whether it’s for math practice problems, timed English essays, or lab handouts. Don’t make things harder for yourself with physical pencils—a nightmare of wooden shavings and breaking lead. I exclusively use 0.5, HB-graded lead because it is the perfect darkness, easy to erase, and still comes out crisp.
- At least 2 polymer erasers: With switching classes three or more times per day, you’re bound to lose an eraser—sure, you can borrow your friend’s, until that surprise quiz where the entire class is seated alphabetically and forbidden to communicate. Polymer erasers, in comparison to standard pink ones, will spare your teachers a headache trying to read under a murk of smudged lead.
- Graph paper: In the rare case that none of your courses require lined paper, graph paper will always be the best option. The vertical lines help align your writing and are especially helpful for note-taking in bullet point hierarchies. Math and science courses that require sketching diagrams and graphs will otherwise be a nightmare.
- BALLPOINT pens: Gel pens come in beautiful, vibrant colors, but their ink can be completely smudged with the single pass of a highlighter or the brush of a fingertip. A quality ballpoint pen dries quickly, lasts ages, and rarely clogs under proper use.
- Scientific/graphing calculator: Many math teachers will strongly recommend purchasing a graphing calculator—namely the TI-84—but most courses that need one will already have a class set for you to borrow. So if you’re not looking to make a $100+ investment in something that’s already available, opt for a smaller scientific calculator like the TI-30XIIS that fills in the gaps for non-math courses like chemistry.
- Highlighters: Humanities teachers will love you if you already have some of these neon inkers in your pencil case. Highlighters are a must for text annotation and organization, and it’s definitely worth investing in non-bleeding ones like Mildliners, which also happen to come in beautiful colorways.
- Wired earbuds: School-issued headsets never sit properly on my head, no matter how I position them, and walking up to the front of the classroom to grab a pair every time teachers assign a video or EdPuzzle is excruciatingly tedious. Wired earbuds are compact and portable, fit most ear shapes, and solve all my audio mishaps.
And then…there’s the one thousand or so index cards and four-inch binder for sophomores in AP World History, the unfortified college-ruled lined paper for English Honors, and many more ultra-specific items that you’ll have to dig through syllabuses for. Unfortunately, that’s just the reality of high school supply lists—but with these nine essentials, at least you’ll never be the one waiting in line for the working pair of scissors.v