English extra cred

Previous english classes were a lot more do-what-you-want. I've found high school honors english have a much higher standard for assignments and stricter instructions. In the beginning of this year I thought english was pretty easy, but as the year has progressed our workload seems to have increased and I'm finding it hard to get things done in time.
I don't mind the reading for the most part, I used to read all the time outside of school, but now I pretty much only read what's assigned. Great Expectations wasn't as terrible as I initially thought it would be, I actually liked it by the end. Annotating takes something out of the enjoyment, but I understand that it's necessary to make sure we are actually reading.