Graphic by Raj Brodie
Tae Hong
Opinions Columnist
Newton South’s Class of 2023 has never experienced a full year of normal, pre-pandemic high school. We experienced freshman year until March and a remote sophomore year. Now, as juniors, most of us have written one essay in the past two years and have never taken a final in our lives.
Junior year has been deemed the hardest year of high school, so jumping into all these tests and projects after having none for over a year feels stressful and out of the ordinary.
“It feels like a big jump, and you actually have to study now. The workload is a lot heavier, or at least feels a lot heavier than last year. The test policies of making up tests or quizzes should also be more consistent. I feel like all the teachers’ test policies are so different,” said junior Isabel Dantas, explaining different test policies, including grade and retake policies.
I wrote my first essay for the year, and I didn’t even know where to start; I remember thinking, how do I even write a conclusion paragraph?
As for tests, I haven’t studied for a test in so long, so I’m still working on finding a proper method to prepare for quizzes and tests.
Junior Maya Mohanti sees the benefits of the challenges of junior year.
“I feel like writing essays is now more sophisticated and preparing us for college. It can be hard, but it helps me improve my writing skills so I can be ready for all the common apps and my future as a scholar too,” noted Mohanti.
Hearing Mohanti’s perspective is important because she did not attend South in ninth or tenth grade, so her workload was a lot heavier than it is now. “Also, the pace of tests is a lot more rigorous in AP classes because you have to keep up with the AP curriculum. Although it can be really overwhelming at times, there are certain points where it is required and actually beneficial. And considering not being in school for over a year, I think the test policies are pretty lenient and should be kept that way. It helps students care about their work ethic and understanding of the content rather than just getting a good grade,” concluded Mohanti.
Additionally, some of the policies our teachers have on tests create more pressure for us to do well on something that is honestly kind of new to us. For example, many math classes say you can only retake one test per term, which creates stress of choosing the right test to retake and pressure to do well on all the other tests. Moreover, the frequency of these assessments is something most of our class has never experienced before—at least for me, it feels like I have a math unit test every week.
“The frequency of tests is faster than any other year for me,” said junior Alyssa Chen. “I have a math test like every week on Fridays,” she added.
The Class of 2023 was not prepared for some of the things this school year has thrown our way. However, these aspects of high school are all necessary to prepare us for our senior year and education beyond high school. It is important to know that we will all survive the year. Good luck!
