Do some advance planning to ease your anxiety. Think like a junior officer preparing to accomplish a goal and attack a target.
Create a mission statement: “My goal is to gain an appointment to USMA and then serve as an Army officer, therefore I will evaluate the use of my time as to whether it directly contributes to that goal. If it does not, I will seriously consider not doing it, or doing less of it, depending on how I am progressing in my academic and other goals.” What would you write? Then live it.
Identify strategy and tactics:
Is there an academic help center on campus? Research what’s offered and when. Vow to use it the instant you feel you are struggling. No shame. At the SAs, all of that is available, and cadets and midshipmen struggle too. The smart ones get help right away.
Are there peer tutoring groups?
Identify and calendar your professors’ office hours and any extra help sessions, f2f or virtual.
What course(s) are you most worried about? Dive into Khan Academy and get your feet wet tonight. Look for basic concepts, terms, material, work your brain. You will feel better ACTING, than reacting or anticipating, to anything unknown or concerning. Run toward the problem to solve it, not stew in imagined future stress. You will have to trust me on this.
Plan ahead. How do you like to relax and yes, fritter away time? Gaming? Social media? Netflix? Plan for that as part of your weekly schedule, with a set time limit, and stick to it. You need mental floss, but you don’t need to procrastinate on a problem set or a 10-page paper while you bury yourself until 0200 in a play screen.
Practical stuff. Do you know how to do laundry? Sew on a button? Tape up a pant hem? Any other skills you haven’t done regularly that you will be doing away at school? Doing basic bank business? Managing a personal budget? No time wasted figuring that stuff out if you learn it now.
Positive thoughts + action plan from here on out. All elephants are eaten one bite at a time.
