Finals are stressful. One test that is worth 10% of your final grade? No thanks. The reality is, every Staples student must take final exams, and everyone hopes to do well on them.
For the next few weeks, most Staples students will be spending their days studying. But what does that mean? For every student, the answer differs.
“I’m more of a night before type person,” Nina Katz ’26 said. “I have a very busy schedule and I tend to get overwhelmed with school work, so procrastinating frequently occurs. I wouldn’t recommend.”
Procrastination is easy to get hooked on. However, there are other strategies that, while they may not eliminate the stress of taking a test, are more reliable.
“I usually watch videos that explain it. I pretend to comprehend that information, and then I do practice problems until I feel not confident, but more confident than I was,” Nolan Francis ’26 said. “Don’t do it the night before.”
At the end of the day, it takes time to properly study for a test, no matter what you do. Therefore, some students like to do most of their studying in one, long (possibly painful) stretch of time.
“I just come home and I grind for 4-5 hours straight on a subject,” Ana Losic ’26 said.
There are a million different study strategies and different things work for different situations. The best thing to do is ask the teacher what to expect and plan accordingly. Also, don’t become a hermit this finals season. That sounds miserable, and it likely won’t help.
“Take breaks, regardless of what your parents say, where you are not doing work,” English teacher Jesse Bauks said. “Taking a break from studying for math doesn’t mean go study for social studies. And, eat and get your rest.”
