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<p>When I was attending my NYC public magnet high school, the common joke underlying the reality of our workload among all students was “Academics, friends, sleep…pick two.”</p>
<p>Students on the non-AP track tend to average about 4-7 of homework/studying per day. I knew no one except the extreme literal geniuses* whose bedtimes were earlier than midnight on the non-AP track and 3-4 am if taking a heavy load of APs. If it was midterms/finals periods, non-AP track kids would stay up till 3-4 am and many AP kids would pull literal all-nighters. </p>
<p>As someone who struggled in my HS’ non-AP track, I pulled a few all-nighters back then. </p>
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<li>My salutatorian friend who ended up at MIT and graduated in 4 years near the top of his graduating class with a BS and MS in EE. Continued to maintain a sleep time no later than 11 pm in college/grad school.<br></li>
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<p>College at my top 30 LAC was not only far less work than HS and more manageable day-to-day, I also had the odd feeling of feeling very little stress during college exams/papers. Heck, I actually enjoyed most of them. This also manifest itself in how within one semester at college, I had the odd feeling of adjusting from being the class dunce to being regarded as one of the most engaged and informed students by Profs and other classmates despite my argumentative contrariness. Even fell into a long-running tutoring gig which helped cover what my near-full ride didn’t cover. </p>
<p>Never pulled an all-nighter in college despite maxing out my course credits each semester until senior year when I had enough credits to shift down my semester credit load. </p>
<p>In contrast, during HS, I was living in the fear of barely keeping my head above academic water…especially during my first two years and being labeled as a class dunce.</p>