Finals, Finally

How Underclassmen Feel About Them and How Upperclassmen Feel About Coming Back

ELAINE OTTENS Editor - in - Chief

Finals have always been a time of stress for students, cramming in all they learned that semester for tests that will make or break their grades. Last “I think I would have known more that was on the finals if I would have taken them freshman and sophomore year because some of the things on the test year, students were faced with the relieving news that they would not be taking finals due to COVID-19 and the possibility of cheating on what would be a virtual test. This year, however, many were freshly introduced to the stress of finals, which finally occurred. resulted back from freshman year. [I felt] a lot of pressure and some of it was good pressure, which made me try and do well. Some of it, on the other hand, was not good pressure though,” Kelly said. Underclassmen share this experience with the juniors, as most of them have not taken a final, or have been very much informed about them. When asked how prepared she felt for finals on a scale from one to ten, Maddy Waldron (9) said, “7 out of 10 because we learn everything so quickly and I tend to forget a lot of it. [I did] better; I thought they were gonna be this big thing that was so hard and something that I would never be able to pass but in reality, it was like any other test.” According to a story on Block Club Chicago, Northside College Prep’ students had a hard time accepting that their finals would be counted for a grade despite the gap year, going as far as creating a petition to have “no-harm” exams. 900 students signed the petition which stated “No benefits of a normal finals week can outweigh the extreme exhaustion and burn-out that we are experiencing from everything that has happened this semester, especially in the past few weeks.” Although this gap has made finals more stressful than ever, it can be inferred that future years will not involve this gap, and other grades can feel more comfortable taking their tests. Let comfort be found in knowing that stress can be better predicted and controlled in the future. “Don’t put off studying! It may seem like it doesn’t matter, but a month away from a final you should start going over what you need to improve on. If you wait until the last second, you won’t know what to focus on when studying,” Davinroy said.

A picture of students’ work they use to study for finals.

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A lot of time has passed since the whole school last participated in a finals week. For others, however, they have not been able to take this extensive break. Elsa Davinroy (12) is one of those students. Due to her AP classes, she had to take a “Compared to last final last year. “I actually did good on all of [the finals]! year, I definitely had I definitely could have done better with more study materials but given the more preparation situation, it worked out,” Davinroy said. ahead of time this Not only did most students have a gap year, a majority of the school has year,” not taken a final at all. The class of 2022 has been able to experience a finals ~ Elsa Davinroy, 12 ~ week, but most- if not all- of those in lower grades have not had this same experience. Junior Kenna Kelly has not taken a final at all. “I was really stressed out because I haven’t felt what actual finals were like before. I also didn’t really feel prepared enough due to having to study so many things at once,” Kelly said. This means that the first finals she has taken are Feature the ones that are looked at the most for future years of school with college. 02.25.22 For Kelly, the pressure was on.