My First Semester as a Secondary one student

My first semester as a sec 1 student has been filled with many pros and cons. It has been a very interesting experience for me and has given me the opportunity to make plans for my future .It has been a new and exciting experience for me to be in secondary school.
At first, it was difficult to manage the many different commitments that Secondary school life entailed. Juggling an extremely demanding CCA and the equally demanding schoolwork was nearly impossible in these first two terms. However, I think that I am now more used to it and will be able to cope in the second semester, especially as the June holidays will allow me time to re- organize and re-sort all my study materials.
Due to the jump in difficulty in schoolwork and exams from primary school to secondary, my results in this first semester have been dismal. The increase in the number of subjects, for example, from English, Math, Science and Chinese, to Language Arts (a combination of English and literature), Math, Science, Chinese, Geography and History, has been one of the most difficult to cope with. In addition to the number of subjects increasing, the difficulty of the subjects have also increased exponentially. I hope that I will be able to cope with these better in the second semester and get better
grades in my schoolwork.
My school adopts the practice of holding sabbaticals after every term. The sabbaticals are a time when pupils can choose a course they are interested in and attend lessons in it for a week. I feel that this is an excellent initiative as it allows the pupils to unwind in the last week of term and also allows them to explore their own fields of interest.
As I am a member of the water polo CCA, which conducts strenuous 4 hour training sessions three times a week, coping with schoolwork becomes a challenge, as the training is both physically and mentally draining.
All in all, my first semester as a secondary one student has been both trying and rewarding and I feel set to do much better in the rest of my school life.