The question that everyone wonders is whether junior or senior year is harder. The class of 2023 was recently surveyed and the consensus is senior year is harder.

After a tough junior year, many people thought and hoped that senior year would be a breeze. However, controversy has now come up among students whether or not senior year is actually harder than junior year. Senior Ella Cantwell believes that senior year has been more of a challenge than junior year. “I feel that the fall of senior year is harder because you have to balance applying to colleges, while also doing classes. For those that have a harder course load especially, it’s just a lot to balance,” Cantwell said.

Along with having a lot on their plates, new rules and policies are causing stressful times. Senior Chase Field thinks that things like the late policies, changes on retakes, and teachers getting stricter are causing the 2022-23 senior year to be more challenging. “I think it’s the fact that we can’t retake tests and also that homework has a more harsh deadline now that it’s not Covid-19anymore. I think that’s mainly why senior year has been harder,” Field said.

It seems like almost a covid hangover, because while last year was more back to normal, this year people have almost hit a brick wall. This might have something to do with people being burnt out after last year and not having as much motivation to do work this year. “I feel that junior year I had a lot more motivation. My senior year I have been kind of burnt out, but I’m still trying my best to work through it,” Cantwell said.

On the other hand, some students believe that their junior year was the harder of the two. With grades carrying more weight, studying for and taking the ACT, and taking more AP classes, it made it more challenging for students to excel. Senior Amelia Beutz believes that junior year is more difficult and that it caused her much more stress than senior year has so far. “While yes, senior year does have its own difficulties and stressors, I believe that junior year is harder. The grades mean so much more because colleges see them, and I took a harder course load during my junior year,” Beutz said.