Finals Week: A Week of Stressing
Second term finals at DaVinci, a tough Spanish test, and simple ways to handle exam stress next time.
Second term finals week! It’s a time students hate to hear about, it’s a time that scares them and chills them to the bone. With all the tests that happened January 8th-12th there was not time for anything but studying. One of the finals tests that happened during that week was Mr. Gatica’s Spanish test. It was extremely difficult and most students ended up failing. Luckily for those students he allowed them to do test corrections. Next term during finals week it is important to remember to study, ask your teachers questions, and to get caught up in all of your classes.
Finals week causes students to break down and want to give up. If you feel this way it helps to take breaks when you are studying and go for a run or do something active that you enjoy, even just getting out of the house helps. It’s good to snack when studying, but you need to remember to choose healthy ones, consuming food or drinks that are high in sugar or caffeine heighten stress. Some mood-boosting snacks are blueberries, dark chocolate, and pistachios. However, if that seems like too much work, simply take deep breaths; it’s the easiest thing you can do to deal with stress.
What the research says
Finals stress is real enough to show up in body data. In a 2024 study (arXiv:2402.11823), researchers had 103 Japanese university students wear a health-tracking ring for up to 28 months. Looking across the whole group, they found that stress markers rose during exam periods, as well as around New Year's and the job hunting season. The authors see this kind of group-level tracking as a way for schools to spot the stressful stretches of the year without singling anyone out, so that support can be planned for those weeks.
