It’s that time of the year again! When our teachers pass out twelve page review sheets and students are busy cramming as much information into their heads as possible. It’s a time when San Luis Obispo High School students lose a decent amount of sleep and teachers take a step back when it comes to teaching. Why is it that finals week tends to bring out the worst in students both physically and emotionally? It may have to do with the fact that one final test has the potential to ruin student’s grades, or that it might be that our “essential” nine and a half hour sleep goes out the door. Either way, finals week isn’t fun.

 Throughout the trimester students strive to achieve a decent grade and spend hours on end doing pointless busy work just to end up with an A or a B. But then, finals rolls in and it all goes downhill from there. It starts with our physical health. Students’ physical health goes down the drain because of the constant mental battle combined with a lack of sleep and nutrition. It’s no shock that the majority of students get sick around this time of the school year. Finals pose loads of stress on not only students but teachers as well. There’s no doubt that stress is harmful to our health. The human body does not function properly when it undergoes a great amount of stress so why do we think that stacking information will help SLOHS students succeed?

It’s safe to say that the majority of students here on campus will inevitably be studying all night preparing for finals and will wake up feeling tired, drowsy, and stress filled. This is not the proper state to be in right before taking a test that will determine your final grade in the class.

Too many students are being pushed to a point where they are literally getting sick because of all the built up stress. All this stress can easily be avoided by making finals a lower percentage of our final grades. Therefore, students won’t be as fearful going into the final because they know it won’t determine their grade.