Hey everyone! I’m a junior with 4 AP classes (Chem, Physics, Lang, & APUSH) and 1 honors course (Pre-cal), and I spend so much time working on homework or reviewing for tests. Taking 2 AP science classes is already brutal, but the rest just add so much more work. I get 4-6 hours of sleep every night, which makes me feel like shit.
I actually like what I’m learning, but it’s hard for me to manage it all, especially considering my extracurricular activities. I’m an officer for two clubs (Key Club editor, UN club historian) and an active member in HOSA (bunch of time, you know if you’re in HOSA) and NHS. How do others who are in so many clubs and AP classes sleep on time?
I don’t get enough sleep either lol, and I feel like it’s a pretty widespread thing for students (especially those with a rigorous course load) to miss out on sleep (sucks). I too am a junior and I take 3 APs and 2 honors, and I only end up getting about 6 hours of sleep a night, maybe 7 if the odds are in my favor.
Basically, if I know I’m gonna be super tired that night I’ll do my homework earlier, take a quick nap after school, or the procrastinator route: finish my homework in school the next day, lmao
What is this thing called “sleep” you speak of? I have to make room for my EC’s (especially choir and orchestra), AP reading/assignments, and my zero hour class. It’s gotten to the point that I wake up tired during the weekday. I sometimes don’t bother doing my homework because my body craves sleep so much. Why hasn’t anyone done anything about this? I know kids who have it WAY worse than any of us. This doesn’t sound healthy at all. :((
When I was in HS, I was able to easily get 8-9 hours of sleep per night while balancing schoolwork, clubs, job, and other activities (I was in AP Calc BC, Physics C, and Lit junior year).
The best strategy, as polyglot said, is to take advantage of moments during the school day to get stuff done (either during study hour, or sometimes during class if I had nothing better to do). Typically, I would get home with little to no HW (unless I had projects/papers).
Of course, good work/study habits are a factor, and efficiency is key. If you’re wasting time on FB during studying, that’s one thing. If you’re wasting 3 hours on pre-calculus HW because you don’t fully understand a topic, that’s another.
• Do your homework during the day. I work on mine during lunch and when I have free time during my classes. Sometimes I even do them during lectures when I have nothing better to do.
• Learn to manage time! Procrastination was a huge problem for me until last term when I learned to manage my time. I used to view my “work sessions” as an hour long (doing homework for one hour, then taking a break one hour, rinse repeat) but now I view them as 20-minute increments (work on homework for 20-40 minutes, then take a 20-minute break, rinse repeat). Find what works for you.
• If it helps, block websites on your computer during the weekday so that you won’t get distracted, there’s a ton of apps for various browsers that let you do that. You can also try to listen to classical music and film scores to stay more focused. These will help you finish your homework faster.
I’m a senior taking six APs (AP Calc BC, AP Stats, AP French, AP English Lit, AP Gov, AP Bio) and I’m a competitive figure skater so I have practice most days. When I come home from practice, I’m always exhausted so I take a nap and I don’t wake up until like 8, and I do homework until 2, and it’s really just a vicious cycle. I have AP Gov first period and we never do anything so I’m constantly doing homework during that class. Today, I went to AP Lit without having my homework done. It’s the first time since maybe 7th grade that I’ve gone to class without doing my homework and I feel so awful lol.
“Why hasn’t anyone done anything about this?” What exactly are you expecting “anyone” to “do about this”? Where is your common sense? Where are your parents, whose responsibility it is to make sure you are healthy? If you are so stressed and exhausted, then take a look at your work habits (why are you on this site instead of working?), quit some clubs, and/or don’t take such a hard schedule. If neither you nor your parents are willing to scale back your over-commitments, I’m not sure what you expect everyone else to do about it.
Seems like the lack of sleep is like a medal of honor for some overachievers. They can easily cut down on some activities or drop to the lower level courses but they don’t do it. The actual lack of sleep or to compalin about lack of sleep gives them the sense of superiority it seems. Just like some macho dudes comparing their scars. The more scars the better. Just my observation.
Well, I know none of you will seriously consider dropping out of any of those clubs because you believe that colleges care about them, and you will also want to keep up with the AP arms race even though you aren’t getting enough sleep.
So, I will offer the strategies my kids have used at particularly busy times: Use your time wisely. You can get work done on the bus to school or to meets/competitions, at lunch, while waiting around for all kinds of things. You can start your homework when you finish the classwork early. You need to take advantage of all your time on the weekend to get started with the week’s work because if you are doing a sport and several other activities, there won’t be enough time to do all the homework during the week. And while working nonstop like this works well in the short term during particular crunch times, if you’re working like this for very long, you are over-committed and you are going to burn out.
My sophomore is only getting 8 hours of sleep at present and if this were to continue much longer (it won’t) I would pull her out of one of her activities. I can’t understand why your parents are allowing you to get only 4 hours of sleep.
Don’t have outside distractions! I deactivated my Facebook because I was wasting time finding out what others were doing, and not spending enough time on what I had to do, and honestly, that was such a great decision. Only use social media if you absolutely have to, such as advertising club meetings.
-Don’t waste time online or watching TV.
-Do your homework when you have spare time, or after school.
-Study everyday, don’t cram the night before.
-If you don’t have enough time for homework & sleep, consider dropping an AP or EC. Health is more important!
5 AP / 2 Honors, varsity athlete (takes up 2.5 hours every day) I’ve been averaging a little over 7 hours sleeping and still feel tired most days. But it’s worth it when you get those A+'s back. Thankfully only 1 more quarter of this hell and I can relax. I’d rather get into a top college than live a few years longer honestly.
5 AP, 20+ hours of music-related activity weekly, October ACT.
I’m averaging 6.5 hours daily.
Best advice is to not procrastinate sleep! I usually have the potential to get 7+ hours, but I choose to lay in bed and play on my phone or laptop for an hour or so before I go to bed haha.
I am a freshman right now in ten clubs, wrestling for a sport, and rigorous schedule and I get about 7.5 hours of sleep and little bit more on some days. I like most uppper classmen do is work during access period and lunch and even during times when we have nothing to do in class. I collaborate with friends to increase the rate of finishing a task such as lab reports and other projects. That way, I come home at 7:00 and be alright.