Upperclassmen talk preparation for final exams

Junior Sarafina Fabris-Green: “I am stressed but not as stressed as past years because I feel more prepared this year. I think that overall our teachers have taught in a way this year to where I have retained the information better, and I feel less like I have to learn everything again.”

Junior Emma Matus: “I’ve spent a lot of my stress on the week before finals, so I have less stress for finals testing. There are definitely things, like the English final [which is a practice AP test] that I am stressed about.”

Senior Kate Pargaman: “This year, it’s actually not too bad for me. I’m kind of worried about it, but senior year, your teachers are pretty cool and you kind of know the routine already. I don’t have a bunch of finals, and I know exactly what I need to know, so it’s not as bad. Junior year and sophomore year were pretty bad.”

Senior Ben Pargmann: “I am extremely stressed about finals because I just have to study a lot, and it’s just a stressful thing. It’s one giant test that counts for an eighth of my overall average.”

Junior Willis Wiest: “I don’t really stress out about them that much. I may be wrong in assuming this, but I never feel stressed. At times, I can be like, ‘Oh wow, I have a lot of work,’ but typically I try to put it in proportion and realize that it’s not that bad. For instance, staying up until 3 a.m., or the research paper, sure it’s not fun, but overall I realize that it sucks, but what are you going to do? In that way, I guess I’m not stressed. I’m just not having fun.”

Senior Marilyn Connelly: “I take a lot of naps and during finals week, after finals are over, you have so much time, I can go out with my friends or get ice cream or something.”

Fabris-Green: “Usually when I get home on each day of finals, I try to exercise when I get home so that way I get rid of some of my stress from the finals so that I’m less antsy while I am studying and can focus for longer.”

Matus: “I go on a lot of sporadic shopping trips, especially to grocery stores, and I buy a lot of food. Then I sleep for a couple of days.”

Pargaman: “Usually I de-stress by procrastinating. It’s kind of weird. I’ll start compulsively cleaning things, like I’ll clean out my car and clean my room and do a bunch of laundry. Or I’ll take it as an excuse to pamper myself. I’ll do my nails and exfoliate my face and wear a face mask and stuff like that.”

Pargmann: “I just watch a few TV shows and don’t think. I do something really dumb. Normally I don’t read a book or anything because it’s just too much mental activity. It’s normally just watching a TV show or talking with my parents or some friends. [I will do this for] about 30 minutes, but if it’s been a bad day, about an hour.”

Matus: “The first thing, I still make sure I get plenty of sleep. Then, usually I work with friends on stuff I don’t understand and we collaborate. I take it one final at a time.”

Pargaman: “One of my major things is don’t study too much. I know that sounds kind of bad, but it’s totally true. I think that you can definitely over study and freak yourself out. There’s no way you can learn a bunch of new material. It’s just important to review it and not freak out because if you freak out, you’re worried about it and you’re not actually learning anything.”

Wiest: “Typically, I take as much time to relax, in combination with studying in periods. I map out what I need to get done and what are my priorities because I know what finals I have last and I know which ones I’m going to have at the beginning, so I decide what I really need to get done. With whatever time I have left over, I prepare. I sleep a lot, eat a good meal, exercise.”