As second trimester comes to an end, freshmen, sophomores and juniors are prompted with the challenge of selecting their classes for the upcoming school year.

Many people find that junior year is the most vital and challenging time of high school. It is a time where students are cramming in as many APs as they can handle, studying long hours in order to be satisfied with their SAT and ACT scores, and maintaining the best possible grades one could work for in hopes of impressing colleges.

According to Randall S. Hansen, “In the junior year of high school, you’ll make critical decisions that could have a major impact on the next five years of your life (and beyond) as you start narrowing lists of colleges and career paths” (LiveCareers.com).

“I feel that next year is going to be more challenging because we will be faced with harder classes in order to impress colleges,” said sophomore Kami Zablan.

Junior year is important due to classes they have to take and the testing.

“Next year we have to start focusing on APs and we also have to take the ACT and SAT during that time,” Sophomore Cedric Jung said.

With all of the work that comes with junior year, students have to commit to doing well in their academics.

“I’m going to have to work harder and spend more time on my academics which will take away from my free time,” Jung said.

Current juniors are facing the challenges that come with it and have advice for incoming juniors.

“Junior year is a lot harder than sophomore year. I should have taken harder classes because junior year is supposed to be the most rigorous year,” Chloe Sousa said, “ I kind of took it easy, but it’s still pretty hard.”

Adding to that, “First trimester was really hard for me, but as the trimesters go on it’s been getting easier as you’re finishing up your credits,” junior Sydney Trieu said.

When asked about what she wished she did differently, Trieu said, “I wish I took Human Body Systems instead of physics because physics is really hard.”

Senior Parmis Sanaei reflected on how her junior year went and had a few recommendations.

“Make your year count by studying for the SATs, try to have a heavy course load and try to get all of your hard classes in so that for senior year, you can relax,”  Sanaei said.

Senior year is heavily impacted by your course selection for junior year.

“I recommend taking AP Lang.  If you’re into the sciences, AP Chem is a good class as well as AP Physics which is really fun,” Senior Sydney Ballard said, “I also heard from a few of my friends that AP Psychology is a good option.”

AP Lang teacher Mrs. Alberts shared a few important details on one of Sage Creek’s most popular AP courses.

“I don’t recommend that everyone takes AP Lang. It is only for students who are willing to put in the work,” Mrs. Alberts said, “It does help students to write in every discipline. It also helps them to analyze non-fiction pieces which is a really important skill for a student.”

Mrs. Alberts also feels that there are some misconceptions about AP Lang.

“I think students confuse not having a lot of homework, with it being an easier AP class and that is not the case,” Mrs. Alberts said, “It is really important that if students haven’t been applying themselves throughout their high school career that they check with their English teacher to see if the class is right for them.”

Keep in mind that every year of high school is going to be a bit of a challenge, so there is no need to stress over this one year. Incoming 11th graders, try to enjoy your junior year to the best of your ability because before you know it, it will be over and you just might miss it.