Seniors offer tips for upcoming Finals Week

Kyra Featherstone, Reporter|December 14, 2021

Neve Marin Rue Galmarini

A tip jar giving tips to stress-less during finals week.

Finals Week, which began Monday, Dec. 13, is known for being a stress-filled week where students have multiple final tests and projects to finalize their first semester letter grade. Despite potential challenges for underclassmen, who have never had in-person finals at AWHS, experienced seniors offer some helpful tips.

Senior Lyla Johnston’s biggest tip for finals week is to not stress about all of one’s finals at the same time, and rather focus on each of them individually. 

“Focus on what’s next for you and break [your workload] up,” Lyla said.

Lyla also believes that stress isn’t always a bad thing, and that students should always attempt to remain optimistic, even if overloaded with work. 

“Dealing with stress can help you learn to manage [stress]… Because finals are definitely a very stressful time for many, so always try and stay optimistic,” Lyla said. 

AWHS senior Emmet Cohen recommends that students use resources offered at school, especially going with friends to the library and creating study groups. Emmet believes students should prioritize their time into studying instead of other activities that may normally be of high priority.

“If you really want to do well on your finals, you’ll carve out some of your personal time that you would spend time doing things you like and study and work more than usual in that week,” Emmet said.

AWHS senior Ellie Casey says that to be the most productive during finals week, students should learn to cope with their own stress. She says it’s best to use time in advisory to talk to your teachers and ask questions.  

“The thing that was most helpful to me was using the tutorial periods, using the periods that are given to you to go to your teachers and to ask those questions that you’re confused on,” Ellie said. 

To prepare their students for Finals Week, AWHS teachers provide windows of opportunity for students to discuss confusions for given subjects. Ellie also recommends  omitting possible distractions when studying on your own. 

“Minimizing distractions, which is your phone, really focusing on what you want to prioritize, and for me that’s prioritizing the classes that I struggle with the most,” Ellie said.

With finals on the horizon, these AWHS seniors hope to offer advice to alleviate the common stressors that many underclassmen experience for the first time this week.