Bad advice (still, it worked for me, sort of)
forget about sleep
study at day, play at night
(and if you're really lucky, few months later your death from exhaustion will be quick and painless )

Just wing it, that's what all the cool kids do.

There will always be an epic video game to divert you away from what is important. When I was in high school I got svcked into Morrowind and then Star Wars Galaxies. In undergrad there was Oblivion and World of Warcraft and then fallout 3 towards the end. Now I am finishing up Law School and Skyrim is right there on the horizon taunting me as I am preparing to wrap up my General Writing Requirement and study for the Bar Exam. The point is that there will always be distractions. However, you can choose to put video games off until you have the free time or use them as breaks to help you refresh yourself in between studying. There are rarely second chances when it comes to your education and as someone mentioned, if you do not have a good job you wont be buying the things you want throughout your life.

Not quite sure how this advice is gonna help him, but i guess the good news is if you get pulled over at least you can tell the police your writing your english essay and not texting.
I might have to try this.

Trust me on this, I've been balancing AP classes with video games for three years and have been making good grades. Save it for weekends when you can, and try to always set aside an hour or so for gaming(depending on ur schedule). You'll have to skip that hour from time to time depending on your workload, but all work and no play, makes Drommy a worn out husk that can't do his work anyway. If you keep procrastination to a minimum(laughable i know, but hear me out), you'll have all the time you need.

as long as they have "advlt supervision", but other than that you still need to be a certain age to buy rated M games, I thought it was 17 but people keep saying 18...idk

Hey OP on a serious note I really hope your able to pull your grades up and i hope the best for you, sorry everyone on her feels the need to put you down to make themselves feel important or something. I'm sure skyrim is gonna have me trying to dodge work and neglecting my family and friends haha.

Yo, OP, are you military or military connected, by any chance? Whenever I got trouble with school I go on the army tutor sites. If your in high school they have people to help with every subject. I use it all the time, even thought I'm not technically military (my school gave out the codes anyway)

Look at it this way, Bethesda doesn't exactly have a sterling record for bug-free releases. Focus on school and reward yourself with a patched game that won't surprise you with errors on your first playthrough. If that's too depressing, just hold off for a few weeks and get the game over Christmas Break, use that time to binge on it, and then go back to school with the largest part of your obsession satiated.

On the whole 'high school' thing. How did you guys know for sure he was not 17 due to him saying high school?
I am 16 and I am in grade 10(well 11 now), high school is till grade 12, I will be 17 before being done with grade 11.
Oh and, yea, I am playing an M rated game before being 17.. dam me..(at least my average in school is 90%, so no one can say I am not 'mature' by the logic of many in this topic)
But yea I agree with most others here, it is far more important to study and do well then to play a video game. You will be able to play the video game any time, but pulling your grades up becomes harder every year. (While it stays easy to do well if you are ahead once, at least in my opinion) Good luck to you.

Don't let the negative people here get to you. I've encountered science students in college before who have learning disabilities, yet are pulling above 3.0 GPA. In getting to know such students, I've learned that some of them overcome their learning disability by practicing and applying different study methods until they learn which one works best for them; also, they don't let their disability hold them back. Instead, they learn to accept their learning disability and learn to work around it. Getting help from teachers and tutors also can be very beneficial for your success.

OP, I'm going into Freshman (yeah yeah, I'm a youngster) and i am also worried.

Were you not expecting any negative feedback? Honestly you should not be over sensitive about such a subject, especially considering you openly asked for opinions and they are being given, and those that may seem blunt and not overly sympathetic, are in my opinion the most useful.

This predicament, if you can even call it that, can be easily handled by merely obtaining self control, which coincidentally enough only comes with maturity.

It releases in November, so I would say weekends, and then you have two breaks following on one another's heels. Winter break is nearly two weeks in December, is it not?

Take it from someone who was expelled from and dropped out of HS: School is very important to your future. It takes priority over gaming.

What about those annoying screaming kids playing COD?
and school is important m'kay

Well i'm in the same position you are, but when faced between the choice of school or Skyrim, it was a no brainer. I chose Skyrim.

do home work during lunch, if you ride a bus do some on the bus, finish what is left at home play skyrim. if you have to study for a test do the same except before you go to bed study more and when you wake up refresh, also if you can refresh before the test.

if your like me though you can go to school with 5 hours of sleep, sleep through the first 2 classes and still pass them with a b+... still dont know how i did that through high school... i think my subconscious picked up the info and fed it to my conscious without me knowing it.

Quit school, get on welfare, dont take drugs, skyrim all day everyday baby!!!

Seriously, self control is an important tool for life.

While video games are a way of escaping the reality that you live in, it doesn't work out if you do it enough to make that reality worse. You need school to get a job. You need a job to get money. You need money to pay for escapist games. Priorities man, priories.

Good luck.

If receiving a D- is difficult for you in high school, I'm thinking you're better off getting a GED and playing all the Skyrim you want. The world needs people that pick up trash and clean windows.

EDIT: If this is truly your case, I think there may be an underlying cause for your inability to successfully attend school. Perhaps ADD? In all honesty, high school is a daycare with books; put in a little more time to study and actually attend the classes and you will do mediocre (which is what your aiming for).

School's more important.

I have school starting int he fall too. I probably won't be able to play Skyrim till Holiday Break, or at least play it properly. Oh well, I had to wait till summer this year to play DA 2. Oh well, school is more important anyway.

it's all about time management dude. get all your school work out of the way, and play only if you have time..try not to play all night, where you dont' get enough sleep for school the next day. focus on your priorities. skyrim isn't really a priority. believe me, i'm going to have to manage my own time as well, when this comes out

Agreed in most classes I can get B+ on intuitive knowledge,highschool isn't hard pay attention study if you think you need to.

Take it in your hands if you think you need to get your grades up and STUDY don't play games if you really can't get a D- you really need to start studying.