“How to Find a Balance Between Honors/AP Classes, Extracurriculars, and Finding “Me” Time?”

Written by: Zirvaa Baghri (28')

It’s 7:00 PM, you’ve just gotten home from extracurricular activities and you have a million things to do – a history test tomorrow, an AP Lang reading assignment on Tuesday, and an AP Chem concept that you haven’t reinforced yet – there’s so much to do, but so little time.

Then, it’s  10:00 PM and you’ve managed to complete your homework, but there's no time left for you to unwind. So, you doom scroll til dawn to fill your need for relaxation while trading off your need for sleep. This is a scenario many high schoolers face regularly, especially highly academic students, as they're stuck beneath assignments, and time is scarce.

Personally, I’m currently a junior balancing four AP classes, and extracurriculars such as speech and debate and Model UN, in addition to preparing for college very soon. It’s safe to say that this is also a scenario I’ve been through an embarrassing amount of times. This article outlines topics regarding time management and finding rest in between course work.

For starters, the first thing you’d want to do when you get home, assuming your day is lighter, is to take out your work immediately and start doing the most labor intensive tasks, or ones that are due soon so you can conserve some energy for later that day or when you have a busier day. However, if you’re someone who doesn’t feel immediately motivated to complete  difficult assignments, then I would suggest doing a lighter assignment first before moving to a heavier workload in order to build momentum, so you don’t burn yourself out. The most critical aspect of doing homework assignments is to not neglect the task, along with staying committed to applying quality work. So, it’s important to create momentum in the beginning so you can continue efficiently instead of trudging through every assignment.

In addition to evening out your workload over the school week, take advantage of the time on the weekends to decrease your workload by working in 2-3 hour blocks, so you don’t procrastinate. This is optimal because it lightens the work you have to do ahead of the week, but most of the time in the day can be solely dedicated to cultivating your passions and hobbies. 

Moreover, you’re going to develop proper study habits that suit your style of learning and the subject at hand, so you better utilize your time. For visual learners and science  subjects such as biology and chemistry, it’s best to develop mind maps that create connections between larger topics and smaller details to create a cohesive web of information for you to take in. Additionally, auditory learners may benefit more from in-depth YouTube  and Khan Academy videos to use as an aid in addition to writing highly detailed, comprehensible notes. It’s recommended that you create handwritten notes with pencil and paper as opposed to typed notes, because they stimulate more regions of your brain essential for processing information and storing details (Cornell.edu).

Furthermore, keep track of your dates so you can spend 30 minutes a day studying for your test across the week, as opposed to an all nighter which doesn’t fully insure memory retention. Although  it may seem demanding at first, the 30 minutes of labor outweighs the 30 minutes of scrolling.

Additionally, the study methods you apply are imperative in improving your work efficiency in order to maximize the amount of free time you’ll have for yourself. To develop long term memory and to better grasp a topic, it’s best to utilize active recall and spaced repetition instead of passively reading your notes. Although it feels comfortable, it prevents you from building knowledge. You can use the “blurting  method”  to accomplish this. Blurting is where you take in information (can be by reading or watching a video) and after a spaced amount of time, you write down everything you retained before correcting and filling in the gaps.

It’s also conducive to use the “pomodoro method”  where you focus on a task for 25 minutes and take a break for 5 minutes, then repeat the process. This method is ideal for attention because the time limit forces you to work faster under pressure. Even if you don’t finish, you would still have accomplished more than you would without the time constraints, and the 5 minute break serves as room for “you” time, but also time in between working to recharge and aids in practicing spaced repetition. 

To synthesize the contents of the reasons above, in order to cultivate a balance between labor intensive courses and extracurricular activities, as well as obviate the issue of little to no free time, it’s essential for you apply your time to your studies earlier in the day through resource or immediately when you come home. Also, figure out what's optimal for you when it comes to notes and information synthesis. Then, practice knowledge retention in blocks to effectively learn content and manage time. Remember, put in a little bit of effort each day because it adds up and reduces your stress, anxiety, and promotes sleep, which are essential factors in affecting  scholastic performance, but also allows you to better enjoy your newfound free time with comfort and ease.  

I hope you’re able to use this newfound knowledge to create a much more peaceful high school experience for yourself in the same way I wish I had when I first entered high school two years ago.

Work Cited

Cornell University. “"Why Writing by Hand Is Better For Your Brain."” Evidence Based Living - Bridging the gap between research and life, Cornell.edu, https://evidencebasedliving.human.cornell.edu/blog/why-writing-by-hand-is-better-for-your-brain/. Accessed 21 October 2026.