senioritis

The major symptoms of senioritis include:

• Playing hooky
• Blowing off homework
• Apathy about grades (marks)

Senioritis is strongest in the last part of senior year, but it can begin at any time. The precursor to this disease is the realization that nobody else cares whether you had a perfect GPA, nobody else cares whether you had perfect attendance, and you're doing well enough that you could get straight Fs for the rest of the term and still get your diploma.

The best ailment possible. I graduated high school in May. I did my last piece of work in December. I took tests and such, but noone put any effort after December. They say senior year is easy, and if you take normal courses it probably is. However, in AP and honors classes it isn't. Until December is over, there is work.

After that, it is every senior's job to ignore the teachers. If you've got the clout by then, just walk out of class. Order pizza. Take a nap. At my school, we (the Academic Decathlon team, aka the nerds) took over the teacher's lounge. IF you've done HS right, then they don't dare touch you.

Also, for those about to become seniors, there is a short window of opertunity. AP courses can be taken over the web now. If you are a big smarty pants at your school, get some friends and ask to take these. The first 2 years of any such program is the best. Generally the "advisor" the school assigns will give you an A, and no work is really required unless you are going to take the test. Several friends at my school took 3 out of 7 AP courses over the computer...some not starting until Nov. I took 1 fake class (post-AP CS) and just talked during it the whole year. Classes such as AP Statistics, and AP Economics seem to be the most effective.

Senioritis is a serious ailment similar to laryngitis and dermatitis, except rather than one's larynx or skin swelling, one's senior swells. Studies have shown that high school students wishing to slack off and tell everyone about it often claim to be afflicted with senioritis, but ninety-nine times out of a hundred the actual diagnosis is that they are full of it. (Interestingly enough, most high school students cannot point out the location of the senior on a diagram of the human body, much less determine if it's swollen.)