<p>I am pretty excited for the fall- but I'm taking a courseload at a prestigious prep school that I had to fight for. As in, the hardest one anyone's taken.
But I'm really hoping to keep my dance, running and research ECs through the year (Junior yr). (And XC will only be in the fall ).Does anyone have any advice on how I organize my time? So far I'm hoping to devote Saturday entirely to homework for the following week so I have a little time in the evenings. I'm kind of nervous... I know I can do this, I'm just trying to figure it out.
Thanks</p>
<p>I want some ideas too, except I am going to be busy every Saturday and most of Sunday!!!</p>
<p>My advice is to find time during the school day to do homework.</p>
<p>Get to school early to finish/start an assignment you didn't do the night before. I always got to school an hour early for three reasons:
1. traffic was much lighter at 7:00 than at 7:30.
2. getting the best parking spot
3. AP Physics homework/AP Lit reading/cramming for AP Art History test/hurriedly throwing together a sketchbook assignment</p>
<p>Also, the atmosphere in the morning is conducive to doing homework--nobody has much energy to goof around (too much) but it's still cool. Everyone's doing an assignment of some sort that they put off from the night before. </p>
<p>Lunch. We had 45 minutes for lunch everyday. Senior year I had 70 minutes because I had a free period right after lunch (would have been 90 minutes, but Physics spilled over. I spent about 20 minutes eating lunch with people in the dining hall and the other 50 in the computer lab or other hangout spot with my friends, talking and doing calc homework.</p>
<p>I always changed really quickly for track/cross country after school. That gives you a free 30-45 minutes (depending on your coach) to do anything. For me, that usually meant idle chatting, but sometimes it meant getting a headstart on the AP Art Studio sketchbook assignment due the next day.</p>
<p>Make sure you keep time on the weekend for pure enjoyment. Either go out Friday night, and Saturday during the day (and work Saturday night through Sunday), or do work Friday night and Sunday and leave Saturday open.</p>
<p>Evenings were for responsibly trying to do readings for AP Lit and Art History, and for writing Lit papers. With my time managed this way, during senior year I could have gone to sleep at 10:00-11:00 every night (depending on what was on TV) because I had nothing left to do (unless I had writer's block on a paper, which was common). However, I had/have a CC and AIM addiction that robbed/robs me of my sleep. :)</p>
<p>I feel the exact same way, and after a week of pulling all nighters, I've found the secret to keeping up. If at all possible, try to stay at school to do your homework. I've found that I do it at school it'll take me half the time than it would at home because of all the distractions. Fortunately for me, I have a brilliant teacher (Stanford grad) who stays for a couple of hours everyday, and she lets me stay in her class to do everything, and helps me with anything I need help on. Then I go home, and by this time it's between 6:30 and 7:00. I pick up my textbooks and read them for about an hour total (not per subject), because I've found I learn better on my own. On Saturdays I do EVERYTHING possible. Even if it's due in a month, do it that very weekend, and study. That leaves Sunday and after 8:00 for anything you want! Obviously this might not work for you because you're involved in some sports, but I thought I'd mention it nevertheless.</p>
<p>I'm excited as well. It's a whole new adventure. Well, do homework ASAP or else you become unhealthy from all the sleep deprivation.</p>
<p>caffeine + force of will = the win.</p>
<p>if you're not up to that, getting to school early and carving out chunks of time during the day, like somebodynew suggested, is a very, very good idea. i've done it myself to great success.</p>
<p>Hope that you'll get normal teachers who don't ask you to do homework daily :)
I basically slack off whole semester and then do everything that's worth grading but that can be a wrong advice. Another thing, don't shoot for 100% if your school's A is 90% -- shoot 91-92%, the reason for that is that perfectionism sux but aiming for 90% can cause some things to go wrong. For example, I had 92%(and A-) in World History while 93% could already be an A -- predicted grade on my assignment wrong.
Balance your courseload proportionally -- no need to work on Math if you have Aish grade there.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I always changed really quickly for track/cross country after school. That gives you a free 30-45 minutes (depending on your coach) to do anything. For me, that usually meant idle chatting, but sometimes it meant getting a headstart on the AP Art Studio sketchbook assignment due the next day.
[/quote]
Some people in my team did homework while on the way to wrestling meet and while at there :)</p>
<p>
[quote]
Some people in my team did homework while on the way to wrestling meet and while at there
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Oh yeah, totally forgot to mention that. I never did that because I always felt that I had time later. During after-school indoor meets (winter track), the juniors would always be reading their US History books. I personally always took downtime (travel to/from meets, times when no one on the team was racing) for SLEEP. Power naps on the bus always gave me a boost in the race.</p>
<p>Every student at our school is forced to take a study hall, basically. Instead of having 8 periods, we have 7 periods and an "Advisory" class.</p>
<p>A Day</p>
<p>Period 1
Period 3
Period 5
Period 7</p>
<p>B Day</p>
<p>Advisory
Period 2
Period 4
Period 6</p>
<p>90 minutes, it's niiiiice.</p>
<p>My course load isn't heavy at all since I'm still only a freshman, but I usually up past midnight everyday... on the computer. If I were a fat kid, internet would be my cake. It's so addictive, and I just can't help it. Anyways, I digress. What ususally happens to me is I do my homework while I'm on the computer, which is more like do one assignment, 1 hour play, do another assignment, 2 hours play, do half an assignment, 3 hours play. By that time I realize I really need to get at it, but I'm also pretty tired and having a hard time keeping my eyes open. I find that if I stand up and do my homework I have an easier time staying awake. Also, I agree with everything somebodynew said, esp about mornings being a great time. What I usually do is pick out a couple easy classes and do my other homework in them. Math is great for that, esp since all the teachers at my school really don't give a damn if you pay attention to them or not. Oh, and one of your classes is having presentations on a certain day, take advantage of it. It's a great time to finish up some quick assignments. If you ride the bus or have someone else drive you to school (I wouldn't recommend this if you're the one driving :p), do some of your studying in the car.</p>
<p>With caution. :) Right side up.</p>
<p>I have nothing to offer really, other than the trying to do HW at school after school... I plan to do that as much as possible this year, no computer, no TV, no distractions.</p>
<p>I'm a horrible procrastinator...going to try to change that this year. Good luck!</p>
<p>Procrastinators Unite Tomorrow! We shall conquer procrastination! Tomorrow.</p>
<p>plan ahead ?</p>