A new class has entered Heritage High School: the Class of 2023. The drive to do better in school is advocated by teachers, other students and parents. But one problem has yet to be solved.

Why are our freshmen students stressing so much in school this year?

“The greatest concern that I have for most of my students is just making the jump from middle school to high school because you do take Pre-AP class in middle school but Pre-AP classes aren’t super similar to the ones in high school,” biology teacher Brody McLemore said.

McLemore thinks that the prime reason for students being stressed in school, in general, is because of the adjustment and the change in workload. Freshmen are especially stressed this year due to a drive to take Pre-AP/AP classes and skip certain courses in order to obtain more credit.

“What high school is supposed to do is to prepare you to be successful,” McLemore said.

McLemore believes that between both a student’s performance in school and that student’s ability to retain the information given in any class is something between the two points of view. However, he truly believes the student’s retention of the information is far more important in life than numbers on a report card, but a student keeping up his or her grades up is just as vital to your success because the grade, in a given subject, generally shows your mastery of a certain course.

But what is the most important skill you need with you during high school?

“Note-taking is the most important thing,” McLemore said.

What used to be the case is that a test would reflect verbatim what a student wrote for their notes. Now schools in Frisco ISD encourage their students to learn the material on their own after an introduction and some practice in a particular unit with the notes that the students take along the course of that unit, can be applied to how they answer test questions.

“[Student] independence in [these] fast-paced classes is probably causing the stress [in our school],” McLemore said.

McLemore says that it takes some time and adjustment to feel comfortable in high school classes, the Pre-AP/AP ones especially. However, he also stated that you need to be more proactive during class and with homework if you want to achieve a long-term goal such as graduating from high school, going to college or starting a career.