Enthalpy Change

The moment I consider most challenging of my school life is lower sixth form. This was because it was the first time in my life when teachers weren’t going to be always reminding me about homework. It was the first time I had to actually read in advance and study not when exams are approaching, but all the time. Along with these things I found myself taking on too many extracurricular activities - Yes there are a few that are no longer on the list - and being apart of too many extras classes. This disrupted the work-play balance that every student should have, and I found my work being sacrificed for my “play.”  The common misconception with extra classes is that once you are apart of an “extras” class you will automatically do better than someone who isn’t, for you are at an “advantage”. However this really does depend as many times the extras classes are not ahead of your normal school teacher, and sometimes the homework adds an extra burden to your work load. I found myself being caught up in this, and hence my weekends were split between the expensive extras classes I couldn’t miss and church that I would never miss. 

When I had realized what was happening to me I was already way into my second term and exams were only a few months away.The grade supervisor called me into her office and we had a semi-heated conversation about my grades and under-performance because she just couldn’t seem to understand what I meant by “I’m not managing my time properly.”  At the end of that conversation I felt stupid  and  mediocre. Not because of the talk I had, but because I knew I am capable of doing so much better, and would never have imagined that I’d be in that situation. I decided to shed a few activities and focus on the upcoming external exams. Though I did not achieve results that I should have, it could have been a lot worse. I made a decision to at the start of upper sixth form to make a radical change to my attitude and my involvement in activities (only focusing on the ones i have a passion for) and currently I am doing just that. My work-play balance I would say is now in a position of equilibrium and hopefully will never change.