As course selection season draws closer, many students feel pressured to take advanced classes, even when it can affect their mental health and sleep schedule. With increasing academic expectations, students often feel compelled to build rigorous schedules, sometimes without fully realizing how the workload may impact their stress and overall well-being.
“Some stress is appropriate, but if you’re finding that you’re always stressed and not sleeping, or you’re resorting to having to cut corners, that’s not manageable anymore,” AP Chemistry teacher Lori Singer said.
While it’s important to prioritize mental health, appropriately challenging oneself with difficult classes can also be helpful, as they can teach students the importance of time management, organization, and personal growth.
“When I first signed up for more honors and AP classes as an underclassman, I think I underestimated how demanding they would be outside of school,” senior Elsie Jacobitz said. “I had a hard time at first balancing my school work with sports and other clubs I was involved in, but looking back on that experience now, it definitely taught me to stay organized and plan ahead.”
Beyond academic difficulty, advanced classes also place a greater responsibility on students to manage their own learning.
“In an AP class a lot of the responsibility is on you,” junior Jessica Feng said. “Even if you naturally understand things, there will always be things you don’t know, so don’t think that everyone in an AP Class is smarter naturally; it takes a lot of hard work too.”
Feng also admits that she often feels stressed when her rigorous AP classes become more demanding, but she came to realize that it’s “the reality of taking a hard class.”
Course selections are more than just stacking hard classes on top of one another. Ensuring a balanced schedule allows students to challenge themselves while still finding time to relax.
Ms. Singer’s advice to students during this time is, “Ask yourself, ‘Do you have the time in your schedule to work on that class?’ without stressing yourself out?”
