I'm a straight-A student with an excellent reputation, and I am incredibly good at retaining and understanding material in my classes. I've also written almost every essay for the past two years the day that they were due, didn't open my textbook for the entirety of AP Gov last year, and frequently complete homework for my classes during the period right before I need to have them turned in.
How do these two sides of me manage to coexist? How does the tornado of disorganized chaos somehow become good grades and even better relationships with my teachers?
Well, if I had to make a list of the Things That Work™ for me, I'd mention:
How do these two sides of me manage to coexist? How does the tornado of disorganized chaos somehow become good grades and even better relationships with my teachers?
Well, if I had to make a list of the Things That Work™ for me, I'd mention:
- Procrastination
- (Way too) rigorous course load
- Doing my homework in the morning before school
- Sunday Night Cram Sessions™
- Comparing myself to my classmates
- Only watching Heimler videos for social studies classes
Procrastination
Like how I'm writing this article at 9:49 PM and it's due at midnight. Or how I did my English homework that was due in 3C during 5th block. Or how I pushed my APUSH homework back so late into the night that I had to wake up at 5:30 and do it that morning (more on that later).
Procrastination has been an integral part of my Brooks student life since Freshman year (thank you, Covid). Once my classes began to pile up the work and my middle school study hall was replaced with a high school elective, my sleep schedule was cooked, so to speak. And when I say cooked, I mean it was mushy and wet. Like, it was bad. I stayed up until 3 AM constantly, and it even got worse when I joined BALM and started doing website dumps (which is why I quit the website team!). I just couldn't get a lick of sleep with how late I was up doing assignments.
Sophomore year, the all-nighters turned into "writing my essay that's due at 3:30 during physics, drivers ed, math, computer science, lunch, and English." And now this year, it's much the same. But hey, it keeps the work turned in and the grades at 100%, so what am I gonna do? Just stop? I don't think so.
Procrastination has been an integral part of my Brooks student life since Freshman year (thank you, Covid). Once my classes began to pile up the work and my middle school study hall was replaced with a high school elective, my sleep schedule was cooked, so to speak. And when I say cooked, I mean it was mushy and wet. Like, it was bad. I stayed up until 3 AM constantly, and it even got worse when I joined BALM and started doing website dumps (which is why I quit the website team!). I just couldn't get a lick of sleep with how late I was up doing assignments.
Sophomore year, the all-nighters turned into "writing my essay that's due at 3:30 during physics, drivers ed, math, computer science, lunch, and English." And now this year, it's much the same. But hey, it keeps the work turned in and the grades at 100%, so what am I gonna do? Just stop? I don't think so.
Rigorous Course Load
So… next year, I'm doing mostly APs. I should've done it this year since these are the grades going to colleges, but whatever. My course load is rigorous enough. One might even say too rigorous, based on my monthly mental breakdowns (which became biweekly during third quarter lol).
But hey, the AP and honors courses keep my class rank high and my weighted GPA above a 5.0. So it works.
But hey, the AP and honors courses keep my class rank high and my weighted GPA above a 5.0. So it works.
Doing my homework in the morning before school
Constantly. I wake up between 3 and 5:30 AM to get my homework done. On one hand, I've found that I'm much more productive in the mornings than at night. On the other, I'm getting maybe five hours of sleep, tops. And that's not including what I get in class.
But hey, I get the assignments turned in (most of the time).
But hey, I get the assignments turned in (most of the time).
Sunday Night Cram Session
Everyone's been there. You've had two full days to do your homework, and yet somehow, here you are on Sunday at 8 PM trying to see how you can get five hours of work done before midnight. Happens to me every single time. I make a plan for spreading my homework out over the weekend, and then I ignore the plan and leave it until Sunday anyways. It's a really bad habit.
Something about the pressure to get my work done makes me the most productive person on the planet. But hey, at least it gets done.
Something about the pressure to get my work done makes me the most productive person on the planet. But hey, at least it gets done.
Comparing myself to my classmates
There's a certain amount of comparison that's imperative to my personal success, despite it being incredibly unhealthy.
I'm like "urg, I have to beat him," or "I can't let him get ahead of me!!" And it works. It really works. Now, do I cry about not being good enough and feeling inadequate sometimes (twice weekly, to be exact)? Yes. But hey, I have great grades.
I'm like "urg, I have to beat him," or "I can't let him get ahead of me!!" And it works. It really works. Now, do I cry about not being good enough and feeling inadequate sometimes (twice weekly, to be exact)? Yes. But hey, I have great grades.
Only watching Heimler videos for social studies classes
And not opening the textbook. I've come to the realization that reading textbooks is not only incredibly painful for me, but oftentimes also ineffective and only ends up in me taking in the unnecessary information that whoever wrote the book decided to throw in there for fluff. I need PowerPoints. Succinct and to the point. They get me the information I need to know, and I pass the test.
Is it kinda lazy and sometimes not enough? Yeah. But hey, it usually (usually, much like most of the bad habits on this list) is.
Is it kinda lazy and sometimes not enough? Yeah. But hey, it usually (usually, much like most of the bad habits on this list) is.
Trinity Jones
