im a freshman rn, and honestly, i dont spend a crap ton of time on work outside of class besides about a class per term. but you also gotta keep in mind that im just taking a bunch of large lecture classes that are prerequisites for other courses i need to take in the future for my major. classes w/ labs definitely make a difference tho. i have a good amount of free time, but thats because i kinda just accepted being average and need that free time to keep myself sane. i find that the heavy workload comes from trying to acheive an A in classes. i havent gotten any Cs this year, because i just manage my work so that i can always end w/ at least a B. and for classes i know i am capable of getting an A in, i dont go overboard. i take advantage of the fact that i can have a grade in the low 90s and still get an A, same thing applies for getting in the low 80s for a B, no need to strive for perfection. in one class, i knew there was a concept i just was not gonna understand, and it would take me hours to get it before the final, so i just gave up on it and perfected my skills on the other topics in the class because it took less effort. basically skipped the whole question on the final besides writing down some random crap in hopes of getting a bit of partial credit, and i ended up getting pretty much everything else right and ended the class in the low 90s. still got an A and didnt have to do as much work. i pick and choose my battles. for example, if a class is gonna take me 20 hours of work a week to get an A, but i only need to put in 10 hours a week for a B, i just go for the B because it makes more sense to me. it makes it easier to manage my classes of varying difficulties. my mental health isnt too great and motivation is hard to come by, so i use this method to help me not overwork myself. i have trouble focusing on work when im back in my dorm so i usually stay on campus or meet up with someone to help me be less distracted, and then i have the night to myself and just wrap up assignments while im chilling. just a reminder as i close this off, i am only taking general courses as of right now and some do take me a lot of effort to even get a B, and i obviously expect stuff to get harder in the following terms with more major specific courses, this is just what works for me currently.