This school year (2013-2014) is my first official year in the International Baccalaureate program. The courses I am currently taking are rigorous courses. However, because my school follows a block schedule, I only have four classes per term. Since I don't necessarily have a lot of free time, when I came home from school, I learned not to procrastinate and to prioritize. Each evening, I would say I usually spend about an hour on homework for each class, excluding my PE class. Personally, I think the hardest course for me is actually IB Spanish. The only reason being that learning a new language is difficult. IB English, History, Art, Maths and Biology are easy for me. I especially enjoy my IB Biology and IB Art classes because I enjoy using my creativity and also because I have been interested in biology and medicine since I was in third grade . Additionally, both courses involve a lot of hands-on interaction. My classes and homework usually fit into the rest of my day quite well. I usually come home from school, start my homework for about an hour, then go to basketball practice. Once I get back from practice, I finish all my remaining homework. Over the years, I have learned to balance school and extracurricular activities quite well.Prompt #3Winning the Student of the Year award for my Functional Analysis course my sophomore year meant a lot to me. affected. Receiving this award touched me because it really opened my eyes to the fact that as long as I focus on something, stay focused and determined, I can achieve it. At this point, maintaining my grades was something that was starting to feel easy. However, at the academic awards ceremony, my sophomore year at Florida, when they called me for the Math Student of the Year award, it was one of the greatest feelings . Admittedly, mathematics has never been my strong point. Unlike some people who could figure it out with a snap of their fingers, without any additional information needed, I needed to break it down. I boil it down to the simplest element and then work from there. I personally think this is what makes this experience so important to me.