Academics. Fine Arts. Languages. P.E. classes. Junior year is one of the most important years in a high schooler’s career, and many students are trying to boost their transcripts with AP classes and flashy electives. However, the workload behind these classes can become unbearable.

AP classes are academically rigorous courses that often require its students to do more demanding homework in order to retain the information learned in the class, as well as constantly preparing for the AP exams in May.

“AP classes are stressing me out. It is essential at our age to get about eight hours of sleep every night. Without that, it is hard to retain anything given to us at school when we try to learn it,” Nicole VanTress, junior, said.

Due to the larger curriculum in honors and AP classes, there is not often time in class allotted to homework, while on-level classes do allow that extra time for students.

Although honors classes tend to give more challenging homework than on-level classes because of the higher difficulty, on-level classes get more work to balance out the challenge of the higher classes.

“I feel like in honors, there is less of a workload because they expect you to understand the lessons to get it right off the bat. In regular [on-level], they make sure to thoroughly go over it, so you will get it,” Ava Prebit, sophomore, said.

Physical education classes do not have standard homework worksheets like academic classes, but the teachers still push their students to learn the required material. Just a few years ago, P. E. classes began incorporating more book learning and more ways to track the learning in its students.

“For team sports, they give you a very short quiz or question based on the game you’re playing that unit. It usually takes about five minutes. We have one every month,” Alex Myers, junior, said.

Since music helps students obtain and retain information, language classes tend to incorporate music into their homework routines.

“I really want to learn Spanish, and I learn well by music,” Sequoyah Jackson, junior, said.

Although students may be swamped in worksheets and projects, it is important to remember that homework is necessary for maximum retention of information, and teachers do not try to overload students with homework.