Finals week is upon us, and the halls are filled with the groans and whines of under rested and overworked students. Around every corner you can hear a conversation about upcoming or past tests or projects. While most students are busy thinking about their workload, many don’t realize how much work goes on behind the scenes during finals week. Teachers have a very stressful time during finals too, as they are busy marking and finalizing semester grades for all of their students.

“I have so much work, it’s almost comical,” said CHS English teacher Judith DeWoskin. “Every year I go into panic mode and think ‘What if this is the year I don’t finish [grading]?’ but somehow I do it.”  From her perspective, finals week means grading upwards of 150 essays and projects, and writing comments on all of them.

“It’s a different kind of stress,” said Moe El-Hussieny, a CHS math teacher. “I see the students stressing more, trying to get better grade, there’s so much pressure to do well… [For the students] it’s such a large amount of material to remember, and as a teacher you are trying to remember all the material and answer questions from so many students.” Once the week is over though, the work is not done. “It’s not make or break like it is for the kids, and I’m not going to lose my job if I don’t finish grading, but it’s very stressful. I have two days to finish grading all of my tests and submit final semester grades for all of my classes.”

“It’s all about tension and release,” said DeWoskin.  “You have a real tension, and then let it go. After exams, students leave the building so relieved.”

“You have people working through lunch and after school,” said EL-Hussieny, “And then once the week is over it’s like a big sigh of relief, for the whole school.”

With so much work packed in to one week, almost everyone in the school is feeling the stress of finals week.  The best way to help cope with finals stress is to get enough sleep, eat healthy, and avoid worrying. All of these methods can help avoid exam stress, whether you are taking the tests or grading them.