Waking up on a Monday morning in February, remembering the two tests you have that week, along with a science project, history notes and math homework is a typical experience for students. Many students believe the third quarter of the school year feels longer than the others and comes with excessive homework.

The third quarter is worse than the others for several reasons. For example, the first quarter is still pretty new, and students and teachers are both figuring out their classes. Teachers don’t usually give a lot of homework or have very high expectations at this time. The second quarter goes by quickly too, and the “newness” of the year hasn’t quite worn off. Finals are stressful, but there isn’t nearly as much to worry about. And the fourth quarter is wrapping things up, studying for finals and getting ready for summer. Overall the third quarter is my least favorite.

The third quarter feels the longest due to all the homework and content in our classes. Teachers go into full gear, because they need to finish teaching certain material before the end of the year and finals. So, they teach a lot every day, giving students many projects and homework assignments to complete. However, when most teachers do this, it leads to students getting burned out with homework for every class. There’s a lot of tests and quizzes too, causing extra stress as students frantically try to study the night before.

Not only is there a lot of homework, but many students are sick because of flu season. I missed one day of school a couple weeks ago, and my grades in most of my classes dropped several letters down due to missing assignments, which I had to make up in my own time instead of working on other homework or relaxing. It’s almost not worth missing school when sick at this time because of the amount of work during this quarter.

While the third quarter does have a lot of long weekends with snow days, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and parent teacher conferences, the weekends don’t provide time to relax. Teachers give notes, projects and study guides for students to complete during the breaks. This is to make sure students don’t forget material and are getting enough learning time; but it’s not fair because we need time to relax without worrying about any assignments.

Overall, the third quarter is the roughest due to homework and a generally heavier course load. Even though it’s in the middle of the year and we need to learn a lot of things before finals, teachers shouldn’t give us so much work at once and instead spread out the course material through the year more evenly. This way we can still get through all the required units for each class while reducing stress and homework.