Final exams bring stress for some

With the 2021-2022 school year coming to a close at Archbishop Carroll High School, students face final exams this week. Although some couldn’t care less about the outcome, others are stressing about what’s to come in the next few days. 

At Carroll, final exams count as 10 percent of the final grade,  so they are a pretty big deal. Many students feel the pressure to do well on such a heavyweight assessment. 

One junior spoke about the difficulty of balancing both studying for her finals while still completing day-to-day assignments.

“No, I am not prepared for finals,” said Rebecca Wallgren. “I only have two but I haven’t started studying yet. I’ve had tests and essays this week so I haven’t had time to prepare for finals. I am stressed because they are going to be hard but I’m also pretty done at this point in the year so not that stressed.”

With a crammed schedule, students are often thrown a lot of information in a short period of time before finals. Another junior spoke about her concern of retaining all this new information for her upcoming Spanish final.

“I’m more worried about Spanish because we just took a test on new information and then our final is on Monday and we haven’t reviewed it at all,” said Lindsey Davidson. “But I am mainly stressed that I won’t be able to remember all the information.”

Junior Makayla Butler spoke about how these exams have been affecting her mood.

“I’m definitely not ready because my last two exams are the two classes that I’m struggling with the most,” said Butler. “I want to think positively but if I don’t pass one or both of them, I’m going to feel really bad about it, especially about myself.”

While some students are stressed for exams, others have had enough.

“It’s not that I’m stressed out; it’s more that I’m burnout,” said junior Caroline Pascual. “All the work and effort that I’ve put into my final tests leaves me with no energy left for the final exams. I’m not worried about them, though; I’m just really excited for summer.”

Junior Nancy Truong spoke about how finals aren’t her main priority right now.

“Honestly, I’m not that stressed. I’m just so done with this school year,” said Truong. “I’ll try to prepare but then again, it’s not a priority.

Some students feel generally prepared for what is to come. Junior Mara Parker spoke about how she feels she has enough time to study for her exams.

“I feel somewhat prepared,” said Parker. “Personally, there is enough time for me to just study over the weekend. It’s also important to mention the classes I have to prepare for are CP so that’s likely less grueling than what an all honors or AP student has to prepare for.”

Freshman Shannon McGee also spoke about how she feels somewhat prepared for her final exams.

“I only have three more finals I have to take and I feel good about most of them but Spanish,” said McGee. “We had open notes for our tests all year and now we’re not on the final, so I’m a little concerned. But we just have a project for theology and history, so I’m not really sweating finals week.”