As the school year finally comes to a close, students can start to get less motivated to do schoolwork. The end is near, and many students are feeling it.

The warm weather and excitement for the various activities of the summer can make it very difficult to want to stay inside to study, which can sometimes hurt student grades.

Students often feel that the start of the school year is a fresh start, meaning their grades can sometimes be better the first semester than the second. This can be especially hard for senior students, many of whom have already been accepted into college.

One student, Cameron Winters, a senior, agrees with the presence of this phenomenon. “I think my grades tend to get worse at the end of the year. It gets harder to focus. Especially this year, now that I’m a senior, it’s hard.”

Winters explained, “I already am accepted to college, and I think just subconsciously I feel like I don’t have to try as hard anymore, and I procrastinate a lot more.”

Although it’s especially hard for seniors, other grades also feel this decreased amount of focus.

Maya Saunders, a junior, thinks her grades are also suffering from the end of the year. She says, “I just think that it’s hard to study when you just want to be outside having fun; it sucks to study when the weather is so nice and summer is so close.” 

Saunders elaborates, “Around halfway through the school year I feel drained, and like I have to work so much harder to get good grades than I did in like September.”

Overall, many students can agree the end of the year is tough. It can be hard to focus and can feel draining to continue with schoolwork that seems never-ending, but students have made it clear they are trying their best to stay “locked in.”