That post about formulating plans looks very good. I saved it to go through carefully later. Thanks.
I would like to know what research has been done in the area of ability to improve at chess as a function of age. Is it ability to improve that is the issue with older people not improving as quickly as youngsters, or are there other factors (e.g., priorities, families, jobs, inner drive, knowing that you are too old to ever be a GM, etc.)? Correlation or cause and effect relationship?
I believe analogous studies have been performed with relation to language learning. What about chess?
Anyway, it's great you are setting and achieving goals. I am going to sound old now and tell you to make your grades in school your first priority. Then chess can be second.
And by the way, I do want to say that while some people might just be underrated for a while and not play, then returning to the game and gaining a lot of points quickly just by virtue of being underrated, I have proof that this did not happen with me. Frankly, I was always a bit underrated, but I was not 1555 skill level until very recently. Here's proof of this, a post I made on chess.com last summer:
http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/i-dont-understand-formulating-plans