Setting Yourself Up for Success

Module 7.3: Setting Yourself Up for Success

Study Habits for the Dual-Enrolled Student

The alternating day schedule creates a unique study challenge: your student is never at either school for more than two consecutive days. This means traditional study habits --- cramming the night before a test, doing homework right after class, popping in to see a teacher before school --- don't work the same way.

Here are the habits that successful ACL students consistently develop.

Plan the full week on Sunday. This is the single most impactful habit. Every Sunday evening (or morning, whatever works), sit down with a planner or calendar and map out the entire week. Which days are A days (ACL) and which are B days (home school)? What's due at each school? When will you study for each subject? When will you work on longer-term projects? Students who plan weekly instead of daily have a massive advantage at ACL.

Don't wait for the next class to start an assignment. When an ACL teacher gives an assignment on Monday, the next time your student sees that teacher might be Wednesday. If they wait until Wednesday to start, they've lost two days. The best ACL students treat the day they receive an assignment as the day they at least begin it --- even if it's just reading the prompt, outlining a plan, or working the first few problems.

Use the gap days for deep work. On B days at the home school, your student has a natural break from ACL classes. This is the ideal time to tackle longer ACL assignments, review notes from the last ACL session, or prepare for the next one. Don't let gap days become "forget about ACL" days.

Build a system for tracking deadlines across two schools. A single planner, a digital calendar, a task management app --- the specific tool doesn't matter as much as having one system that captures everything from both schools. Two separate notebooks for two separate schools is a recipe for missed deadlines.

Study in shorter, more frequent sessions. The research on learning is clear: distributed practice (studying a little bit every day) beats massed practice (cramming) by a wide margin. This is especially important for ACL students because the content is challenging enough that cramming simply doesn't work for most students.

Time Management Strategies That Actually Work

Time management sounds like generic advice, but for ACL students it's genuinely a make-or-break skill. Here are specific strategies that work for dual-enrolled students.

The two-school calendar. Use a color-coded system --- one color for ACL deadlines, another for home school deadlines. At a glance, you should be able to see what's coming from each school. This prevents the "I forgot I had an ACL lab report due because I was focused on my English essay" problem.

The Sunday weekly review. Every week, review what's coming for the next seven days. Identify the hardest or most time-consuming tasks and schedule time for them first. If you know Thursday is going to be brutal (big test at home school plus ACL project due the next day), plan to front-load your work earlier in the week.

The 15-minute rule for getting started. When you're staring at a big assignment and feeling overwhelmed, commit to working on it for just 15 minutes. More often than not, you'll find that getting started is the hard part --- once you're in, momentum takes over. This is especially useful for ACL research projects and engineering design work, which can feel enormous.

Protect transition time. On days when your student travels between schools (via LCPS bus), that transit time can be used for reviewing flashcards, listening to a recorded lecture, or just mentally switching gears. It's not a lot of time, but it adds up across a semester.

Know your energy patterns. Some students do their best thinking in the morning. Others hit their stride after dinner. Schedule the hardest work during your peak energy hours. Save easier tasks (organizing notes, sending emails, reading) for low-energy times.

Build in buffer time. Things take longer than you expect. Plans get disrupted. If your schedule is packed to the minute with no margin, one unexpected event (a practice that runs long, a teacher who assigns extra reading) can cascade into a crisis. Leave breathing room.

Building Relationships with ACL Faculty

ACL teachers are not your typical high school teachers. Many of them have advanced degrees, industry experience, or research backgrounds. They chose to teach at the Academies because they're passionate about their fields and about working with motivated students.

This is an incredible resource --- but only if your student actually takes advantage of it.

Introduce yourself early. In the first week of school, make it a point to talk to each ACL teacher briefly. It doesn't need to be a deep conversation. Just a "Hi, I'm excited to be in this class" goes a long way toward establishing a connection.

Use office hours. ACL teachers have office hours or designated times when students can come for help. Use them before you're in trouble, not just when you're desperate. Coming in with a question about a concept you want to understand more deeply makes a much better impression --- and produces much better learning --- than showing up the day before a test in a panic.

Ask genuine questions. ACL teachers respond to intellectual curiosity. If something in class sparks a question that goes beyond the assignment --- ask it. This is how mentoring relationships form, and those relationships can be transformative for your student's trajectory.

Be responsive to feedback. When a teacher gives detailed feedback on a lab report, paper, or project, engage with it. Don't just check the grade and move on. Read the comments, ask follow-up questions if something isn't clear, and demonstrate that you're incorporating feedback into your next piece of work.

For AOS students in the research years: your research mentor relationship is one of the most important academic relationships you'll build in high school. Treat it with the seriousness it deserves. Show up prepared. Meet your deadlines. Communicate proactively about your progress and any obstacles you're hitting.

When and How to Ask for Help

One of the biggest adjustments for ACL students is learning to ask for help. Many of these students have never struggled academically before. They're used to being the student who helps others, not the one who needs support.

Here's the truth: every ACL student hits a wall at some point. The ones who do well are the ones who recognize it and act quickly.

Academic support at ACL. The Academies campus has academic support resources --- from teacher office hours to peer tutoring to academic advising. Know what's available and how to access it before you need it.

The home school still has your back. Your student's home school guidance counselor, subject-area teachers, and tutoring resources are still available. If your student is struggling in a home school course because the combined workload is too much, talk to the home school first.

Peer study groups are powerful. Other ACL students are dealing with the same challenges. Forming study groups --- especially for the integrated math and science courses --- is one of the most effective support strategies. These groups form naturally over time, but you can accelerate the process by reaching out to classmates early in the year.

Talk to your family. Parents, this one is partly for you: create an environment where your student feels comfortable saying "I'm struggling." If the expectation is that they should be getting perfect grades without effort, they'll hide their difficulties instead of addressing them. Normalize the struggle. Celebrate the effort, not just the outcome.

Know the difference between productive struggle and drowning. Feeling challenged by hard material and working through it is productive --- that's learning. Feeling overwhelmed to the point of anxiety, losing sleep, or falling behind in multiple classes is a red flag. If your student is in the second category, it's time for a conversation with the ACL advisor and the home school counselor.

Balancing Extracurriculars with Academies Workload

ACL students participate in extracurriculars at their home high school --- sports, music, clubs, theater, student government, whatever they're passionate about. The Academies campus doesn't have its own extracurricular programs in the traditional sense (no ACL football team or ACL drama club).

This means your student is balancing ACL academic demands with home school activities, and both matter. Here's how to make it work.

Be selective, not overextended. The temptation is to do everything --- varsity sports, three clubs, ACL coursework, AP courses at home school. But something has to give, and you don't want it to be your health, your grades, or your sanity. Choose two or three activities that genuinely matter to you and commit to those.

Communicate with coaches and activity sponsors. Let them know you're an ACL student on an alternating schedule. Most coaches and sponsors are understanding, but they need to know about your constraints in advance, not when you're already missing practices or meetings.

ACL days are not free days for extracurriculars. When your student is at ACL, they're at school. They can't leave early for a home school practice or meeting. Plan around the alternating schedule, not against it.

The research years (AOS Years 3-4) may require trade-offs. Independent research is time-intensive. Some AOS students scale back their extracurricular commitments in junior and senior year to accommodate the demands of their research projects. This isn't mandatory, but it's common, and it's a conversation worth having in advance.

Quality matters more than quantity --- for college admissions too. Colleges don't want a laundry list of activities. They want to see depth, leadership, and genuine engagement. An ACL student who leads one club, plays one sport well, and does meaningful research has a stronger profile than one who's nominally involved in eight activities but deeply committed to none.

The Big Picture: Thriving, Not Just Surviving

Here's what separates the students who thrive at ACL from the ones who just get through it:

• They're genuinely interested in what they're learning, not just collecting credentials for a college application

• They build real relationships with teachers, mentors, and classmates

• They manage their time proactively rather than reactively

• They ask for help before small problems become big ones

• They take care of themselves --- sleep, exercise, downtime --- because sustained performance requires it

• They keep perspective: ACL is a tremendous opportunity, but it's not the only path to a great future, and no single test or grade defines them

The students who do best at ACL tend to approach the whole experience with a combination of seriousness and joy. They work hard because the work is interesting to them, not just because they feel like they have to. That mindset makes all the difference.