As the 2021-22 school year approaches its end, we can all agree that some quarters take blood, sweat and tears to finish, while others are a breeze. Even though they are all about the same amount of time, each quarter varies quite a bit. We have things like finals, holiday breaks and even seasons that affect how hard the quarter is to finish with our sanity still intact. So I present to you, our four quarters: ranked from best to worst. 

Quarter four: In my opinion, the best quarter there is. Now you can argue that this quarter ends in stress with finals and AP exams, but hear me out.

 The majority of the fourth quarter is preparing for finals and AP exams and not actually doing much hard work that will heavily affect your grade. AP exams may cancel out some finals and then you don’t have to worry about that 20% swaying your grade.  As long as you work on study guides and show up, you’re pretty much guaranteed passing grades this quarter. 

 Also, the weather is getting warmer, days are getting longer and everyone is excited for the summer to start.

 That seasonal depression from the long winter is starting to fade and, if you’re a senior, you’re thinking about Prom, graduation and upcoming college. Overall, the pros outweigh the cons and fourth quarter gains the number one spot of best quarter. 

Quarter one: A close second to quarter four seeing as the workload and weather is just about the same. The real difference here is that when you’re in the first quarter, you know you have the whole year of hard work ahead of you. 

This quarter is fairly stress free and a great way to build a strong foundation of high grades to balance you out for the rest of the semester. You’ve got a week of straight syllabuses and get to know you activities along with football games and the Homecoming dance just around the corner. 

No finals and just getting into your schedule, but you still have the trouble of establishing your routine and figuring out what life is going to be like for the next ten months, which can be a hard adjustment coming off of summer. 

Quarter two: The most boring quarter yet. Therefore, there’s not much to say about it. You’ve settled into your routine by now and the dread of unchanging days and cold weather is on the horizon. 

No more 8 p.m. sunsets and the first finals week of the year is almost here. Walking the path is now giving you frostbite and everyone would rather be home preparing for the holidays than studying for finals.

 But, at the very least there’s still the well-deserved winter break at the end of the quarter to look forward to. 

Quarter three: The absolute worst part of the school year. At this point, you’re at a stand still. There’s nothing to look forward to at the end of the quarter like a holiday break or the end of the school year. 

Students around the whole school, in my opinion, can agree this is the hardest few months to get through. 

It’s even way harder to keep grades up this quarter due to procrastination and overall dread of doing work. Everyone’s itching for the weather to warm up and the end of the year to be upon us. 

In all honesty, it’s hard to find a reason to keep working this quarter, the senioritis or just overall procrastination is really kicking in and the only light at the end of the tunnel is this dreadful quarter being over.