The town high school is buzzing with freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. The freshmen are excited to no longer be “those freshmen” next year, juniors barely made it through the ACT, seniors can’t wait to be rid of senioritis and sophomores are still taking tests.

Are sophomores tested too much? I, personally, think that they are. I am aware that everyone has to go through this their sophomore year of high school—that’s life. But maybe we should take a few tests out for future generations.

If a person were to go on any form of social media, they could see teenagers’ mental states are deteriorating. They talk about things as little as being sad from a break up for a week all the way up to something as bad as wanting to end their lives. Having to study every night for five or six classes isn’t going to help with that.

Many sophomores are usually very busy. They are taking their drivers tests, still figuring out how to balance their new work schedule with school and are also involved in school activities. Not everyone has enough time to study for three or four tests a week.

The tests that all high school students are expected to take, or eventually expected to take, are standardized tests—like the ACT—End of Course Exams, quarterly assessments and finals. It has come to my attention in my second year of high school that sophomores have to take all of these and more. They take the ASVAB government/military test and the ACT aspire, which is a practice ACT. This may not seem like much, but keep in mind that these are tests that take up nearly an entire seven-hour day of school. It is also said that more tests will be added in years to come.

I ask myself, why are sophomores the targets of testing? I will most likely never know, but I hope someone can help cut back on this. Most of this testing helps the state, but it does not always help the students. This testing can be stressful, time consuming and it can take students away from days when they could be learning new material for their futures. Sophomore testing needs to be cut back, not added on to.