How to get good grades with a heavy schedule?

Question

I am thirteen years old (I skipped a grade) and just about to begin ninth grade.

This fall, I will be on the cross-country team, which practices Mon.-Fri. from 3:15-5:30. Then Mon. and Wed. I have diving practice from 7:30-9:00, and Tues. and Thurs. I have dive practice from 6:00-7:00, as well as 10:00-11:30 on Saturday.

That means that if you include driving time, I will have an average of two hours a night to do my homework, eat, have a shower, and go to bed (if I go to bed at 9:30, which I want to do so I won't be tired in the mornings like always). Can anybody help me decide how to deal with this? The only thing I am willing to drop is the Tues. and Thurs. (6:00-7:00) Dive practice, and I don't want to do that if I can help it.

I'm in the IB program and I am taking 2 sophomore classes as well (Math and Spanish). Other than that I am taking Biology, American Government, English, Gym, and Speech & Debate. How long do you think I'll have to work on homework every night? Please help, and please don't give me answers just to be mean or answers that won't help. Thank you!

Answer 1

-don't procastinate

-be organized

-have a positive attitude

-finish your homework before you do anything else

-study for tests and exams

-take good notes

-join sports, clubs, activites

-be involved with your school

-pay attention to teacher's lectures

-don't slack off on your schoolwork

-have a good night sleep

-eat a good breakfast

-keep a schedule, like a to-do list

-when you get a big project, start working on it

-don't wait until the last minute to do your assignment

-don't talk back to teachers

-talk with your counselours about college planning

-have a calendar with important dates

-keep a planner, to keep track of assignment, in your backpack

-once in a while, take a break and have some fun.

Answer 2

I can appreciate the fact that you want to be very active in high school. Extra curricular activities are important, but I would suggest that you limit yourself to one sport per season. I would suggest that you choose the one that means the most to you at this point in time. High school is so different from middle school and there is going to be a lot of times that you won't be able to do all of your homework adequately in all of your subjects. You need to allow at least 45 minutes per day for each subject and there might be times that you will need more than that depending on how large your assignments are.  All of the classes that you will be taking are very demanding. I think that you will just be spreading yourself too thin and will end up wearing yourself out. Don't try to do everything all at once.

Answer 3

You'll have to drop something.

Taking two sophmore classes and all that will wear you out and you'll do poorly on the exams and yeah

drop something.

Answer 4

Well first, congratulations on skipping a grade. Good job.

I'm going to be a sophmore and when you get to high school the homework really does pile up. So the only thing I can tell you is to work on your homework whenever you have free time and that might mean you have to stay up an extra hour or two at night. It's hard but if you fall behind with school work, it's way harder to make up. If you can, maybe try working on it a little bit in the car on the way to practice. Or maybe take a shower in the morning instead. I'm sure you'll have atleast an hour or two atleast a night. Just try not to get to overwelmed. Good luck. =]