Traditional wisdom holds that a student’s effort follows a definite, predetermined cycle; naïve diligence freshman year, the sophomore slump, the super-strenuous junior year and the intensely desirable, longed-for senior slack.

But this pattern does not hold true for many, like senior Alyssa Broughton, who says she has to work especially hard this year, pulling against the current to which many of her fellow upperclassmen are falling victim.

“Being a senior will certainly help with procrastination, but I really need to stop that and get working this year,” she said.

Broughton said that she currently has a 2.8-9 GPA, but wants to get it up at least above a 3.0 by the end of this year. She also said she needs to begin work on the SAT, which she has yet to take.

“I’ve been putting it off and off, saying I can wait another day, but the time’s coming when I won’t be able to do that anymore,” she said.

Counselor Kris Hartman said Broughton’s situation, while not necessarily common, is certainly not unheard of. She said that many students take senior year as a mandate to slack-off, but that there are still some who need to push on harder than ever.

“Some students have not put in the effort they feel they should have throughout high school and really need to push ahead now,” she said.

Senior Michelle Arce said she finds herself in a seemingly opposite, but actually rather similar predicament to Broughton. She has a seemingly great resume: high grades, strong extra-curriculars and extensive volunteer work. However, surprisingly, she does have a “weak spot,” trouble with standardized tests like the SAT and PSAT.

“My scores aren’t what most people would call ‘bad’ scores (1910), but they definitely aren’t as high as some of the colleges I’m applying to will want,” she said.

Broughton, who said she wants to go to IU, or at least another state school, said she fears that her surge in effort, which includes her first AP classes, may have come too late and that her revitalized efforts might turn out to be in vain.

“I really hope (this) year pays off for me and helps me get into college, but it will be very difficult for me to improve my grades and stuff in just one year,” she said.

Hartman said, however, that colleges are apt to accept kids who show special effort and improvement, so a kid who gives extra effort their senior year might be able to improve their appeal to schools more than cumulative GPA and other indicators would suggest.

Arce said she has worked very hard to improve her standardized testing scores. “I’m happy with my results as a starting point for my next attempt because I know what sections to focus on,” she said. She said that the University of Chicago, her number one choice, usually looks for students with composite scores of over 2,000, so she said she is making that her goal.

Hartman said that it is usually difficult for her to convince students that they need to continue to work their senior year, because most of what a student will accomplish in school has been completed by then and many have already been accepted to college.

Still, she said that, uncommon, colleges have been known to send letter rescinding acceptance so that students who thought they could blow-off during their senior year can actually be removed from a college’s enrollment list.

Broughton and Arce said they both agreed that the fact that their peers will be slacking off to a large degree will make their studying even more difficult.

Hartman said the best strategy for most is to continue working as they have been all along, except for the select few, like Arce and Broughton, who really need to strive to employ their senior year to its maximum advantage.