What Do Sophomores Think of the Incoming Threat of Junior Year?

For many sophomores, junior year can be very intimidating. Classes get harder and students try to cram in as many AP classes as they can possibly handle. Junior year grades are very important for college admission after all. Being a sophomore myself, I feel a lot of pressure heading into junior year. I’m told that next year is going to be hard. Let’s see what other sophomores think of their next year of high school.

Many students seem to have a pessimistic view toward next year: “I realized I made a mistake taking AP Lang. Run. Children Run. You don’t even know. AP Environmental… I’ve heard that one sucks too,” Sam Dietz said. Many of the concerns students have toward next year are related to advanced classes and their difficulty.

Ryan Trippeer also had concerns with junior year: “Not looking forward to it. I’m worried about taking harder classes and college things. I have no clue what I’m looking forward to.”

This brings us to another concern of junior year. The pressure to take as many AP classes as humanly possible. Halle Edwards of prepscholar.com points out some of the flaws of taking too many AP classes.

“Another problem with AP isn’t so much due to the program itself, but how students (and parents!) react to it. Across the country, students are overloading themselves, thinking that taking ten AP classes is the ticket to a selective school. This leads to stressed-out, burned-out students,” says Halle Edwards, a former AP student.

Junior year is the year many expect to get burnt out, and the cramming of classes seems to only accelerate “senioritis.”

There’s a clear air of cynicism surrounding junior year. While I was discussing the topic with some fellow sophomores, a junior butted in and had something to say. They asked to stay anonymous. “Are you guys actually excited about junior year? Junior year sucks. It’s terrible. You turn 18, and you become an adult.” Keeping a positive attitude is very important. Falling into a rut of negativity is sure fire way to make your junior year your worst.

If junior year sucks so bad, what can current sophomores do to make it as manageable as possible? Here are some tips.

-Collaborate with friends on difficult school work when you can. Heavy workloads can be difficult to manage alone and things are always more fun with friends.

-Getting enough sleep is essential to a tolerable high school experience. Maintaining good grades isn’t easy when you can barely keep your eyes open.

-Take occasional breaks during school. This means not working on homework every possible free second of school. It doesn’t hurt to play some games on your phone every now and then. Seven hours of only school work is exhausting!

Many who have gone through junior year consider it the hardest. It’s been interesting to see what the next class of juniors are looking forward to, and what they’re dreading. If you are a sophomore, good luck next year. And if you aren’t, wish us good luck!