When you ask students what grade they think is the easiest grade and the hardest grade, they don’t 100% have the same answers.

Sarah Adams, a counselor at Norwalk High School, said based on senior exit interviews, most students would say junior year is the hardest, and sophomore year is the easiest.

“Freshman is tough, they’ve got the hang of it in their sophomore year– but they have to jump back into tough classes in their junior year, and even their senior year too depending on what they’re taking.”

Seniors Isaac Binder and Kyla Segebart both said junior year was hardest for them.

“Junior year was the hardest grade because you have a bunch of tests,” Segebart said. “You have your ACTs. You have to study for your ACTs. And that’s a pretty big thing for college. That’s what they look for.” 

However, senior Tavin Ferner said that he thought junior year was the easiest. He said that he took Algebra, Biology, and English 11, and they were pretty easy for him.

“I think the combination of just the teachers that are mostly with the juniors – like really good – and the classes not being that hard is a good combination and makes it the easiest year of high school,” Ferner said.

Students all had different opinions about which year was the easiest. Segebart said that for her, it was freshman year. 

“Freshman year was pretty easy because you’re just starting high school. So it’s not like – they’re not expecting a whole lot from you,” she said.

However, Binder said he found senior year was the easiest for him.

“If you get a bunch of your classes you need done freshman, sophomore, junior year, sometimes in senior year, you can just take the year off almost if you don’t have many classes to take,” Binder said.