(June 11, 2010) -- On September 2008, Fahad Nathani walked toward the familiar brick building, ready to tackle the infamous junior year. As a sophomore, Nathani had heard warnings of junior year being the hardest, and he was prepared to face it, knowing that in the end, the chances of him coming out alive were highly likely, and if he tried his best, so were the chances of him getting into a good university.

Nevertheless, his calm façade hid a hint of apprehension with the uncertainty of what was to happen in the year to come. "You have the tension of college applications the next year so you have to keep all your grades up," he said.

In order to do this, Nathani challenged himself with three AP classes: AP Calculus BC, AP English and AP Physics. However, junior year offered much more than just numerous AP classes. It was also the year to begin thinking about the SATs. "It’s hard balancing all those classes and studying for the SAT at the same time," Nathani said.

Nathani took his SAT and subject tests towards the end of his junior year, and was able to receive decent scores on all of them despite his heavy workload. However, this did not come without a price. "It was the most stressful time. I had my first all-nighter," he said. "It was because of Ms. Pettegrew’s Dust Bowl project."

Unlike Nathani, Christie Morishige decided to keep her junior year workload pretty light. She took one AP class—AP English—and took Math Analysis Honors, but still says that it was not the hardest year for her, even though it is the most important. "I did really well. I think it’s because the atmosphere [in junior year] is more productive," Morishige said.

However, she also had her difficulties. "I think the hardest thing for me was that I suck at taking SATs and I kept taking it over and over," she said. She even took classes at the library, where she had to take practice tests every weekend to help her prepare for the real exam. However, even after taking the SAT twice, she was still not satisfied with her score.

Nathani and Morishige both agree on the importance of junior year, but had very different experiences. They both had their ups and downs, but, fortunately, they both came out of it alive.