Yes,
The beginning and end of a quarter are similar in many ways, but the beginning takes on more stress. First off, the beginning of the quarter comes right after stressing at the end of the previous quarter. For two weeks students have to worrying about finishing strong and getting their final grades in. And then, the new quarter starts, and the stress is never relieved.
The combination of ending well and starting better creates a harder challenge for students, which makes it more difficult to maintain focus and study. “The teachers throw a lot on us at the beginning, it makes it harder to get my work done in all seven classes,” senior Jack Berman said.
Another reason that the beginning is more difficult is because the teachers are all starting new topics and assign a greater amount of homework. In one night a student will typically have two hours of homework, but in the first week of the quarter “I typically have two more hours of homework,” sophomore Drew Rubinstein said.
Students want to start the new quarter strong, so they stress out and try to make sure their grade at the beginning of the quarter is as high as it can possibly be. They spend more time studying than usual at the beginning of the quarter in order to have a high grade.. “I always try to start the quarter with good grades so I don’t have to try as hard at the end,” sophomore Anna Daraselia.
The beginning of second or fourth quarter are especially stressful because students know which classes they did not get the grade they hoped for the previous quarter. Therefore, they stress out about those specific classes as soon as the new quarter starts. For example, if a student got a B in math first quarter and want to get an A for the semester, as soon as second quarter starts they stress out and work hard in math.
At the beginning of both first quarter and third quarter it takes students a little bit of time to adjust to their classes and their schedule. Adjusting to their new schedule, along with working to get good grades and start the semester strong, leads to an abundance of stressors for students. “The beginning of the school year is always stressful for me because I have to find my way to all my new classes,” junior Jack Lvovsky said.
To avoid too much stress at the beginning of the quarter, students should work hard throughout the whole quarter. That way they will be able to end with the grade they want without stressing themselves out right when a new quarter starts.
-Miller Romm
opinion editor
No,
Do you ever find yourself going through a lot of stress from your schoolwork and studying, then look at the calendar and realize what day it is? Oh, it’s almost the end of the quarter. It seems that students are cramming to finish essays and study for last minute tests the closer the day gets to the end of the marking period.
This can be seen as a good and bad thing. If you have a borderline grade, these time consuming assignments can make or break your difference between an A or a B. “I always end up having to do the most boring little assignments just so my teachers can put more grades into the gradebook,” junior Katie Barnett said.
No matter whether you’ve had an A in a certain class all year so far, it seems that even those people get more stressed than usual during the end of quarter. It’s always those last couple days where most teachers, no matter the supposed testing schedule, give quizzes and tests that could in some students’ case determine or change their grade. “I hate the fact that even up to the last day of the marking period, the grades aren’t set completely,” junior Sami Haendler said.
What’s also stressful about the end of the quarter is that if a student ends up with a grade in a class that they are not happy about, or think that it should be different, there’s not much that can be done to help it. Say the quarter ends in three days, and you had just checked your grades that morning and you were content with them, but in class the teacher passes back a quiz. That quiz dropped your grade down to a different letter grade, and the teacher isn’t giving a retake. That puts a lot of stress on the student and could possibly have the effect of changing your GPA.
Some people may disagree with this, and say that beginning of the quarter is far more stressful than the end. They think that because it’s the beginning it puts pressure on the students to start with good grades on the first assignments so hopefully the grades stay there. Although this could be true, a marking period is nine weeks, and there is plenty of time to bring a grade back up if you unfortunately don’t start out with the best test or quiz scores. “It’s usually easy to get my grades back up if needed as long as I work hard at it, but if I don’t and it’s already the end of the quarter I won’t be able to,” sophomore Danielle Berman said.
The end of the quarter is way more stressful than the beginning considering students want the best grades they can, they’ll cram in late work, studying and more to improve or keep their grades until the marking period ends.
Considering these issues, there needs to be solutions provided in order to create less stress on the students and teachers at the end of the quarters. Teachers’ schedules need to be more fit to create more time for the students to know what grades they should try to fix, or not.
-Sarah Levine
staff writer
