Which Year of High School is Hardest?

Which Year of High School is Hardest?

Olivia Johnson, Kayla Parker-Discala, Jenna Clemente, and Agafaye Victorino
May 1, 2013

Freshmen Year

By Olivia Johnson

It is hard to say which year of high school is hardest when you are just a freshman. In fact, it is practically impossible. But hey, freshmen have to hold their own. Now of course, academically freshmen year is a breeze for most, at least compared to years to come. Most will learn that the hard way, but we face other challenges during everyday school life. We are considered “bottom of the high school food chain.” Frustratingly, athletes are usually prone to make the freshmen team unless equipped with godly skill. It is also hard to imagine the upperclassman in your shoes just a few years ago. No doubt that sophomores, juniors, and seniors have their struggles, but remember the challenges freshmen face, because everyone has experienced it. Without saying freshmen year is hardest, I will say it is no piece of cake.

 

Sophomore Year

By Kayla Parker-Discala

For most students, sophomore year is big leap from freshmen year. You are given much more responsibility, you are expected to know so much more, and the classes are much more difficult. In freshmen year, you’re introduced to high school and you’re just learning the ropes of it, you’re also “babied” most of the time. When you become a sophomore, you get hit with more work than you thought. There are more tests you have to study for and  take, along with weekly quizzes that you don’t always expect. Also, some students take AP Euro, which makes most students realize that they have to manage their time better. Sophomores are usually fifteen going on sixteen, which means they can get their license. Later on in the year, sophomores also have to take the California High School Exit Exam, another important test sophomores add to their agenda. Along with the tests, quizzes, and responsibility; sophomores realize that college is a very large factor and they do look at your grades to see what and how you did your second year of high school. Sophomore year is no time to lay back and relax, its a time to buckle down and get ready for what’s to come.

Junior Year

By Jenna Clemente

There is a constant battle of which grade in high school is harder. Personally, I believe Junior year is the hardest. Junior year is the first year where students start to take more than one AP class. They are new to taking multiple AP classes and are trying to juggle all their classes. Because they haven’t taken multiple AP classes before, they are trying to adjust their new schedule to make time for each class. “Definitely Junior year is the hardest. I’m taking five AP classes so that makes it hard. Teachers are also trying to prep you for college so they are harder on you. It’s also a reality check. Juniors realize college is coming and they need to prepare for that.” says, Junior, Anna Bruns. Junior year is also the year that counts. Colleges look mainly on junior year to see if a student is academically eligible for their school. The pressure of facing your-whole-life-is-ahead-so-don’t-mess-it-up is nerve wrecking. Junior year is the year most students take the ACTs and SATs. On top of all the studying for the AP test, juniors have to prepare for the SATs and ACTs as well. We are constantly reminded that higher education determines where we will end up in life and the idea of ruining that scares us. The pressure is higher during our Junior years.

 
Senior Year
 
By Agafaye Victorino 
 
 Senior year is the hardest for some in the sense that they are literally the last class and the top of the totem pole. There are times that the home stretch of a race is often the most difficult. Well, think of the last year of high school as the home stretch… of school.Think that freshmen year is hard because that student does not know what to do? In that case, classes can be hard if not impossible due the immense amount of effort needed (especially in English, US History and the foreign language classes). Junior year as hardest year? Meh, sure, fine. Some students have academically exhausted themselves from the previous year and somehow manage to spend their time lollygagging in order to regain what energy they had that was lost. Alternately, others can still exhaust themselves from the AP classes, the sports, the extracurricular stuff going on and the advanced classes if junior year did not squeeze the effort out of their being. Students lose interest in school as bigger, better things arise. Caught up in their future, seniors often forget what measures they need to take to get there–graduating. And once they get off track it is a steep downward plunge, difficult to get back up. If junior year does not exhaust you, then senioritis will overtake the unlucky one next year and rob him/her of his/her motivation to graduate.