When I was a naive six-year-old glued to the television, I believed that high school was going to be the best four years of my life. There would be musicals, basketball games, and pep rallies. At least, that’s what High School Musical made it seem like. When freshman year had begun, I had high hopes of finally living in the world of HSM.

However, my dreams were soon crushed by homework, tests, and projects. Why are we all so pressured to get above a 4.0? Is it a competition, or do we really want to hurt ourselves by pushing our minds to their absolute limit?

A word of advice: never feel bad about taking Academic classes. The titles have no power over you, and they definitely do not define you. Everyone is intelligent in their own way, even if their grades don’t show it. Some people are common sense smart but not book smart. Both types of people will make it in the real world, which is where we will be soon anyway.

The question that always swirls around my mind is what factors contribute to the high pressures of getting an insane QPA. There are so many students at NASH who are naturally intelligent and can ace every AP class. But that is not everyone, and teachers need to understand that. Students take honors and AP classes to challenge themselves, but it doesn’t necessarily come easily.

Personally, I have taken harder classes just to show everyone that I could do it. Whenever I took a class with a weighted grade, I would refer to it as AP Spanish rather than just Spanish. I felt as though it gave me a better reputation, and I would no longer just be average Amber. But the truth is that I am the same person no matter what classes I take.

Some teachers have given me the impression that they believe their class is the only one we take. They pile us up with homework and tests without realizing that we have eight other classes throughout the day. It is close to impossible to remember everything we learn from 1st period until 11th.

But unfortunately, a lot of the pressure we put on ourselves is self-inflicting. Anytime I have a test and I study for hours, I still worry for no reason. Worrying will never help in this situation. Instead, I have begun to think to myself, “There is nothing I can do now. All I can do is take the test and do my best with what I know.” It has actually helped me worry less and receive better grades.

It may seem impossible to get good grades without over-stressing, but impossible is just a word created to counter the truth of possibility. That is what this world has to offer to us.  All we have to do is reach for it.