High school can be very overwhelming.  There are so many projects, tests, and assignments that sometimes it seems like it’s impossible to get everything done.  But there are two weeks during the year that take the cake for the most stressful- final exams.  The time to go back and re-learn everything that’s been forgotten since the beginning of the semester.  Those days of late night studying and early morning cramming sessions.  At least, that’s the picture most people have.

There are many different points of view when it comes exam week, however.  There are those whose entire lives center around their exams for the few weeks surrounding finals week, and then there are some people who are pretty confident and whose study habits consist of a brief review of notes before the exam.

Hannah Shevrin, a Community High freshman, explained that her stress level during finals has been very low.  “My teachers have prepared me pretty well,” she said.  “I’ve learned throughout the first semester of high school how to study well and not to get stressed out about these things, because I know that finals suck, so I’m just accepting it.”  Shevrin said that she’ll spend time studying over the weekend and before finals, but that she isn’t overly worried about anything.  “[I’m shooting for] A’s.  And B’s.  I’m okay with B’s.  And C’s…you know?  Whatever!”  she laughed.

Not everyone has Shevrin’s optimistic view, though.  “I’d say my stress level is pretty high right now,” Kate Markey, a junior, said.  “For finals, I usually retake all of my notes, which is really tedious but I don’t really know any other way to study.  It usually takes like six hours per class, but it’s worth it, because then I do really well on the finals.”  Markey studies for some of her exams two weeks in advance and is hoping to get at least an A- on all of her tests.

There are some students, like PHS sophomore Dana Rupp, whose stress levels fall somewhere in between that of Markey’s and Shervin’s.  “On some of my finals, I’m not really confident, but I feel very confident about some of my finals, so I probably won’t study as much [for them],” Rupp said.  “I usually don’t start studying for my finals until the weekend before.  And then I just kind of spend my whole weekend studying.  I don’t really have a life.”

No matter what kind of student you are, don’t worry- you’ll get through finals week.  Think on the bright side!  In the words of Sophie Faylor, CHS sophomore, “There are half days…and this weekend we have a four-day weekend, so that’s really awesome.”  Good luck!