The school year is winding down, but with AP tests and final exams around the corner, one last burst of academic momentum is necessary to finish out the semester. There’s only one catch: I quite possibly have the worst junioritis known to the human race.

With Jewish holidays, winter and spring breaks dividing up the majority of the first three quarters, the academic year thus far has flown by. But fourth quarter is a struggle. The weeks leading up to AP exams are probably the most stressful and taxing. Yet, I think I speak for many of my peers when I say student motivation is at an all-time low, and procrastination is at an all-time high.

This year, I am taking three AP tests: English Language & Composition, Psychology and World History, all junior year staples. Some of my fellow students are taking five or more AP courses or tests. I don’t know how they do it. After enduring nearly eight months of five-hour homework nights, mostly consisting of text-heavy readings, annotated documents and 100-slide PowerPoints, I am truly burned out.

Once a motivated student, I now am too lazy to even write down my homework, check Edline or study for reassessments. It’s also difficult to pay attention during class; I find myself counting bubbles on the scantrons, admiring the ceiling tiles, wiping imaginary dust particles off my desk and scanning the room for my fellow students, many of whom are asleep, texting or absent.

My grades continue to slip by the day, but I can’t muster up the internal strength to do work in the evenings. Instead, I take one look at all the work I have to do and proceed to take three-hour naps to sleep off my building stress and anxiety. Any “homework” I do consists of opening up my textbooks and staring at the pages glossy-eyed for a couple of hours, plugging in random numbers into my graphing calculator or mindlessly conjugating Latin verbs that all end up looking the same.

By attempting to evade the exertion of energy on coursework, my actions may seem like those of an apathetic student. It’s not that I don’t care, I really do care. The workload just never seems to end, with teachers piling on assignments and announcing assessments (“Hey guys, guess what? Three hundred point summative test tomorrow! Hope you studied all 200 vocab words and every unit we’ve covered this semester!”).

Obviously, it’s not the fault of the teachers or the county; they are simply doing their best to prepare us for our academic futures. But at some point, even the most diligent and prepared students feel the burden. It seems so much easier to ignore the immense load of studying, throw up your hands in surrender and let your GPA drop.

Junior year is supposed to be the most grueling school year academically. I feel as if this statement holds both truths and inaccuracies. At least from a personal standpoint, my sophomore year workload was far greater than that of this year. But don’t be deceived: While freshman and sophomore years test your ability to get work done, junior year is all about time management and prioritization. In addition to our academics, we must study for and take the SAT and/or ACT, get our drivers’ license (or permit) and begin to think about college, all while maintaining participation in extracurricular activities and sports.

Anyone with these many commitments and priorities may get caught up in the enduring work and “on-the -go” schedule. However, we must not lose sight of  the goal at hand: to graduate from high school as the most prepared students we can possibly be. With only a few weeks left, it would be stupid to completely give up now. Let’s finish this year strong, one re-quiz at a time.