As the year goes on, each student is faced with the highs and lows of each quarter of school. While each student has their own opinion about which quarter is hardest, a common belief is that the third quarter is the most challenging. Struggling with the third quarter is known to many as the “third quarter slump.”

In a Chatterbox survey of 282 students, 155 said that the third quarter was hardest for them. Starting right after winter break, a new quarter can be difficult.

“It feels like the longest and it’s hard to focus the first couple weeks after winter break,” Leslie Gimbert, ‘25, said.

Students also had trouble with their sleep schedules during the third quarter. This can affect mental and physical health, attention span and participation in school.

“I have been lacking with my sleeping schedule and I missed lots of classes and assignments because of my tiredness,” Bre’Ashia Robison, ‘25, said.

All quarters can be hard depending on the student and how well they take workloads.

According to the survey, the second quarter came in second place, with 58 students saying it is the hardest quarter. 

Students who voted the second quarter as hardest all agreed by the time the second quarter rolled in they were unorganized. After the first quarter of online school, students started to get unmotivated.

“I kind of lost motivation and got lazy but also had the pressure to do well because the semester was ending,” Sophia Willis, ‘25, said.

Another struggle during the second quarter is that students felt that they had the most assigned work to do.

“We had a bunch of projects back to back right before finals would have been and it was very stressful,” Sophia Rush, ‘24, said.

Coming in as the third hardest quarter from the Chatterbox survey is the first quarter, with 49 votes.

In the first quarter, everyone at WHHS had to adjust to the new online setting. Students who had no knowledge of technology had to learn how to attend Google Meets every morning and cope with doing all their assignments digitally.

“I had to get used to getting up for online classes, and charging my computer in the middle of the day,” Evelyn Denen, ‘26, said.

Some students, mainly in seventh grade, argued the first quarter was more difficult for them because they had to adjust to WHHS from their old elementary schools.

“First off we’re coming into middle school, second of all there are a lot more classes, and third, we still did Latin at my old school but it was just a lot less work,” Bareen Abdulrahman, ‘26, said.

Fourth quarter came in as the least difficult in the Chatterbox survey, with 20 votes.

“Fourth quarter is the easiest because I think I’ll have figured everything out by then,” Solie Thress, ‘26, said.

But, just because the fourth quarter is the last quarter of the year does not mean it is easiest for everyone.

“I think quarter four is the hardest for me because there’s a lot of pressure. Fourth quarter is the last quarter of the school year, and it’s the last chance to raise any grades before school lets out,” Landen Cummins, ‘25 said.

Different quarters may be hard for different students but there are some tips that might help students cope with their stress throughout the year. 

You could listen to music you enjoy, find a new hobby you really like, try out a new sport, start using a planner to stay on top of your work, and create goals to achieve before the end of the school year to help you stay motivated even when it gets tough!