Depending on what kind of a student you are, a night of homework might be a challenge, or a walk in the park. Senior Muhammad Alasgarli seems to have come as close as possible to being an expert time manager.

Managing your time outside of school is arguably more important than the time you spend inside of school doing work. School is as much about managing your priorities as it is completing them in a timely manner, and for this reason students often find themselves struggling to actually get their own affairs in order.

“Leading educational spokespersons have celebrated homework as essential to raise educational standards, foster high academic achievement, upgrade the quality of the labor force, and link family and school in a common teaching mission,” according to the Center for Public Education.

Even though Muhammad is enrolled in six AP classes and one weighted class, he still maintains a 4.469 GPA and No. 1 ranking in the senior class. Both of these have helped him earn a 34 on the ACT. He was able to manage his time well enough to fit a four year course load into three years, allowing him to be able to skip the 11th grade and graduate a year early with Liberty’s inaugural class.

Still, he manages to get all of his homework finished on schedule in order to have free time for sports and activities.

“For many high schoolers, time management is a major issue, and it’s easy to lose focus of the task at hand when there are many ambient distractions present,” Alasgarli said.

When studying or completing homework, he recommends that you turn off your phone and put it in a drawer or somewhere out of reach so you can utilize a quiet environment with little distractions. In addition, he believes it is useful to complete homework as soon as you get home and get it out of the way, so it is easier to gauge the amount of free time you have.

Looking to the future, he has considered how his good study habits might benefit him when it comes to his high school graduation, which he is on track to complete at the end of this academic year.

“To be on track for, and prepare to achieve my three year graduation, I have had to use time management aggressively to reach the necessary objectives of a four year graduate, only in 365 days less,” Alasgarli said.

He hopes to become a successful lawyer after attending law school at an Ivy League university.

“Time management is a key asset in college. You have to efficiently divide time between studies and athletics

in order to still have time for endeavors not of academic nature,” Alasgarli said.

So, the next time that you’re struggling to stay focused and manage your time well, keep in mind that a great part of being a successful student is developing these good habits.