With extracurriculars and jobs on students’ plates already, managing the stress that comes along with choosing classes should not be the main dish.

“Even when there’s no work I always think, ‘Okay, what’s next that I’ll have to do?’” Gaby Brown (10) said.

With an overwhelming workload on students’ backs, there is always a never-ending cycle of work. Brown pointed out that even when she does not have work to do, there’s always that “What’s next?” question weighing heavily on her mind that strains her energy.

“I try to base it on the teachers because, for me, I have to have a good teacher to be able to understand and want to be in the class,” Olivia Freeman (10) said.

With so many class choices at White Station, it is difficult to narrow down all the options. Ask peers who take a certain class you are considering or talk directly to the teacher to see if the class will be appropriate for you.

“Don’t take too many AP courses. In college you don’t take more than five, six top classes, and I see people taking seven or eight AP courses,” Laine Agee, AP Computer Science teacher, said. “Some people who take all these APs and Honors, they’re burned out by the time they get to college.”

By balancing out difficulties that come along with classes, students can prevent suffering from an overly-demanding workload. According to Agee, students should not put so much pressure on themselves to be “perfect.” Students tend to put too much pressure upon themselves by attempting to take the hardest classes possible, which can ultimately cause them to crumble under all the stress. When choosing upcoming classes, consider teachers and workload instead of taking every AP imaginable.