Are my grades high enough for me to achieve a good GPA? Is my GPA high enough to get me into college with scholarships? Will the scholarships be enough to help me afford a good school? Will the amount of work I do ever be enough?

There is an incredible amount of pressure on students to do well in school, and they often wonder if they are doing well enough. School is the biggest aspect in a teenager’s life as it lays the foundation for his or her future. It can help develop good study habits for college and should be a time for learning more about yourself and growing up. While these benefits can come from high school, some students find themselves solely focusing on getting good grades.

There is a portion of students for whom school comes before all else. While I agree that school should be a top priority, it should not cause students to be up until 1 a.m. or later due to the an excessive amount of work. This amount of work can lead to large amounts of stress causing students to want to pull their hair out.

When students are under this amount of stress, they cannot adequately do their work. They can’t focus on anything because they are so overwhelmed, leading to more stress.

The list of things that cause students stress seems endless. Whether it’s in the classroom, on the sports field, in the lab, during a debate, or in any other situation. The list goes on and on, and students feel the pressure to do well.

In some cases, this pressure is good. It creates a competitive atmosphere and makes students hold themselves to the highest possible standards. Most of the time, however, this pressure just leads some students to becoming overwhelmed and makes them feel as though they are inadequate.

In order to better avoid the pressure and stress that results from this, students should make a homework and study schedule for themselves. For example, setting aside specific times to spend on each assignment that needs to be completed. Making a schedule will help students better allocate their time to spend on their homework and studies.

Additionally, creating a schedule will help students to focus and not become distracted. Setting aside an hour to study for a test, for example, will help students to not spend an excessive amount of time on any one assignment.

So, students, always try your best, but also set a schedule so that you know when to say, “enough is enough.”

Taylor Bynion is a Copy Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.