As finals week rapidly approaches, students are reaching for another energy drink and staying on campus more than any other time during the year.
Hannah Mika, a sophomore in chemistry and health promotion and education, said she feels an increase in headaches and a decrease in sleep.
“I do not handle stress well already,” Mika said. “Everyone handles it differently, but I don’t even know if I could find a way to handle my stress. My sleep is dramatically affected — I get way less sleep because I stay up later and need to wake up earlier to balance everything.”
But for other students, like Gustav Gochnour, a sophomore in international studies, finals week is far less stressful and even easier than other weeks.
“I have less stress this week than any other week,” Gochnour said. “I only have one assignment due, but for my friends it is opposite — one of them was in the library for 18 and a half hours.”
Susannah Nevison, a writing professor, said she thinks getting ready for finals can be difficult.
“I think, of course, it is hard to prep for finals,” Nevison said. “But if students begin at the beginning of the year and keep up, it is much more balanced.”
Campus during finals is typically a high-stress environment, Gochnour said.
“There is a much different vibe on campus this week,” he said. “Everyone is buckling down, and people are camped out at the library from dawn to dusk. I think people realize they’ve goofed around all semester, and now the future seems to ride on one week.”
Gochnour said he thinks the only way to solve the increased stress levels is to spread the stress more equally throughout the semester.
“I think it would be better to vary finals throughout the year,” he said. “It’s nice to only have one week of high stress, but if they were scattered, people would take school more seriously and study harder.”
Mika said she thinks having finals all in one week is a bad idea.
“Students are groggy and tired and trying to do everything to stay awake, which is not healthy at all,” Mika said. “I want winter break just so I’ll have time to breathe and not be so worried about one week.”
A lot of the pressure students feel comes from outside sources.
“Mainly the pressure for me is because I want to get into medical school,” Mika said. “And it’s not coming from my parents, but it is coming from my drive to get a better education, so I can get a better job.”
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@JulianneSkrivan