Every school year is organized into four nine-week long marking periods, each varying in difficulty for the students. In my ten years of school I’ve grown to believe that the best and worst marking periods are periods one and three respectively.

The first marking period is the best because it is the least challenging part of the year. It’s the start of the new school year, and teachers spend most of the time familiarizing themselves with their students and allowing students to get to know them and their classmates. Teachers spend most of the first marking period getting situated back into school and figuring out how they want to approach the new year. Due to this transition period, the first nine-weeks has the least amount of assignments in the grade book which alleviates students’ stress levels. 

Next we have the third marking period, which is the worst. By this time, students have  been in the school long enough to know how everything works and they are well adjusted to the school. Teachers start speeding up their lessons and assuming that students can handle an increased workload. The third marking period is where you get the most school work and quickly go through lessons. Also, by the third marking period, counselors start approaching students to figure out classes for their next school year. This is also a stressful time because it’s a hard decision to make sure you pick the best classes for you. The third marking period is a lot of work and stress getting thrown at you in a short period of time and that is why I believe it is the worst.

While each marking period has its own significance and difficulty I feel that the first marking period is the easiest and third is the hardest and most stressful.