When I was in ninth and tenth grade, I earned 10 credits each year. This year, I will finish with 7. In my senior year, I will have about 4-5 credits. For this post, I’m going to talk about why I set up my years like this, and what the benefit is.
What is front loading?
Front loading is getting the majority of your credits in the beginning and then being able to finish up with a lighter load. I took a lot of my elective credits in my first two and half years of high school. Now, by the time I finish my junior year, I will only really need 2 or 3 credits to graduate.
Why did I front load?
When I was originally planning my high school classes, I didn’t set them up this way. In fact, in the past 2.5 years, my plans have changed an uncountable number of times.
While I was in 9th and 10th grade, I was really motivated to take a lot of classes, and except for a couple of extracurriculars, I didn’t have a ton of other commitments. In addition to my core classes, I took a lot of electives, mostly because I thought they were interesting. For the most part, I had the time to finish everything, and I didn’t experience too much stress.
This year, I took on harder classes (including AP classes) and more responsibilities. I didn’t think it would be much different than the prior years, but it was. My first semester was hard, and I struggled to get everything done well. I was stressed out and I had no time for rest.
Going into this semester, I had finished two classes due to them being self-paced and dual enrollment. I probably could have found something to fill up the time. I’ve always been pretty good at finding classes or activities that seem interesting to me, even when they’re not really necessary. And doing things you enjoy is great, but you can’t let it get in the way of rest.
I knew if I added anything to my schedule, something would have to give. I just couldn’t do it all anymore; I was burnt out. Since I wasn’t ready to give anything up, I’ve decided that I won’t add anything to this semester. I have four classes, and extracurriculars I enjoy. And so far, this month of school has gone really well. I haven’t been nearly as stressed out, and I’ve had more time to focus on projects and non-school-related activities.
I had originally planned more classes for my senior year. But now I realize that there are only a couple I really need to take. I haven’t quite decided how many classes I will have, but I know I don’t want more work than this semester. I want time to focus on things other than school, and I don’t want to experience the same stress I had last semester.
Although I front-loaded my classes somewhat unintentionally, I’m so happy I did. As I’ve taken on more, I’ve had fewer classes to do. Next year, when I’m focusing on college applications and big decisions, I won’t have to struggle as much to balance school and everything else. If you’re younger than high school, or in your freshman year, I would highly recommend considering whether getting most of your credits in the first couple years of high school will work for you.
Sophomores and juniors, we need to take a close look at our plans. If you’ve experienced stress or are overwhelmed by too many commitments, consider what is actually necessary for you to do. That goes for both school and extracurriculars. Maybe you’re planning on taking a class that you don’t actually need in addition to the 5 you do. Or maybe you’re involved in an extracurricular you don’t love. But remember to still take some classes you enjoy. If you have a relatively light workload, it’s okay to take another class you’re passionate about, even if it’s not necessary for graduation.
By examining what classes will be important in future years, you can keep yourself from stress when you have more responsibilities and let the back end of your high school years be restful and enjoyable.
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