By Megan Hardin

With the last two weeks of school before Christmas break, comes a lot of pressure and stress on students. Most of the stress is due to finals, whether it is studying for them or taking them.

“Stress levels rise and I get really nervous because I know that I need to pass these [finals] and be properly prepared. It’s just so much to handle,” said junior Deja Jones.

With finals only a week away students and teachers are trying to stuff lessons in to get ready.

“Teachers are cramming things in last minute and then we have to go and try to cram them in and learn them,” said Jones.

Students are overwhelmed by attempting to learn new material as well as recall everything that they have learned within the past semester, intensifying stress.

“My stress level increases because you have to try and cram everything you have learned back into your brain,” said junior Kelsi Hardin.

Finals cause so much stress because of the impact they have on students’ grades.

“Finals are typically worth about twenty percent of our grade and a bad score could drop a better grade, so I do start to worry,” said sophomore Lauren Alexander.

With this impact, students are trying to figure out what grades they need to get in order to pass all of their classes.

“I get nervous and then I try to figure out what certain grades that I need to get and based on what that grade is, is how much I study,” said senior Ali Host.

Another item adding to the stress over finals is not always knowing what to study.

“Something that causes me a lot of stress is when the teachers don’t always tell you everything that is on the test. When that happens I just have to study everything instead of spending more time on the particular things that I know will be on the test,” said junior Jake Lammert.

With all of this multiplied stress students need to have ways to relieve the tension and get rid of it.

“I don’t study for long periods of time, I take breaks and I also break it up into sections, so that it won’t be so much,” said Alexander.

Along with taking study breaks students turn to friends to relieve their stress.

“I hang out and joke around with my friends to stay relaxed,” said Host.

Even with all the stress that is being caused by finals, students feel that they are ready to take them and begin their Christmas break.

“I feel like I am prepared finals. I think that I will do good with all of the studying that I have done. I’m ready to take the finals so that we can start our break,” said Lammert.