A stressful time: finals, AP exams, honors societies and a cherry on top
The overcrowding of multiple assessments immediately following April break has dropped an unfair overload of work on students in a short span of time and has caused an unhealthy amount of stress for students.
It’s the week after April break for Staples students and times could not be more stressful—especially for AP students.
Why?
Perhaps it’s because of the back-to-back final exams that have been jammed into every pocket of time this week. Or maybe the sudden scheduling of a plethora of hour-long honors society induction ceremonies—where attendance is only mandatory if you still want to be a member.
The abnormally late spring break this year due to Good Friday falling in the middle of the month has created a problem: given the school rule that prevents teachers from scheduling assessments in the two days immediately after a break, the AP teachers all crammed their final exams across just three days. As a result, an abundance of students are taking multiple finals a day and using up every minute after to prepare for their AP exam occurring in just a few days.
This past week, my days and those of many of my peers have consisted of non-stop studying, from the moment school ends into the early morning hours.
Studies suggest teenagers should get an average of at least eight to 10 hours of sleep to get a healthy night’s rest. Yet I find myself in conversations with my peers who are getting near four hours each night.
This unhealthy regimen has been on a repeat cycle each night, no doubt causing negative impacts beyond simple stress. There are essential things such as eating nutritious meals and spending time with family that are sacrificed to allow more time for studying, not to mention the aforementioned sleep deprivation that has harmful effects on one’s overall health.
Never should students be in a situation where they have to sacrifice their own physical and mental health for the sake of studying, especially when the situation is caused by a tight schedule that could have been avoided.
In case you got caught up in this overall chaos, let me remind you of a simple fact: we are kids despite our disapproval of being referred to as such. Adults who have been in the workforce for decades perhaps have become more accustomed to a lifestyle similar to this, but I for one don’t know how much more I can take right now.
Broadcast Director Anna Diorio ’23 entered Staples deeply hoping to become a part of something in the school community. Inklings proved to be a place...
