Students will be going through the dreaded biannual week of finals. Finals test students on all of the information that they have learned since the beginning of this school year.

“Since this is a top notch school, [they] really want the students to do well,” freshman Michelle Ojiako said. “I think the school really cares if the students have learned or not.”

Not surprisingly though, these finals often create stress and anxiety for the students. With such high pressure to do well on the final, students tend to get worked up about the tests which can harm their mental health and in turn harm their final grade.

“Sleep early [the night before] because if you’re sleeping during the test, you aren’t going to finish and you’ll just be rushing,” sophomore Sabinus Ndulaka said. “That’s what I did and then I got a lower grade than what I wanted because I didn’t go to sleep the previous night.”

Luckily, there are plently of ways to help students get rid of the stress and anxiety that comes with final exams.

“My english teacher [Mrs. Cannon] taught me [that] if you ever get really stressed out, you should do breathing exercises,” junior Katherine Janssen said. “Like breathing in for four [counts], holding it for a few seconds to calm yourself down, and [letting] it out slowly and keep doing it until you feel really calm. That helped me out a lot because I’ve been under a little bit of stress.”

Finals week affect some students more than others. But whether there is stress or no stress, don’t forget to take a step back and relax. May the odds be ever in your favor.