As students gear up for the final stretch of the school year, the anticipation of summer break is high. However, finals looming overhead bring along a wave of mental stress and anxiety, often exacerbated by last-minute cramming and lack of preparation. Part of this is because students lack the proper skills and techniques to study, and the other part is lack of time management which results in procrastination.

Many students feel the pressure of finals but a lot of them are just counting on the freedom that will ensue after. Addyson Walker a junior said, “Yeah I mean I’m not looking forward to finals by any means but I’m ready for this year to be done.” She continued to say, “ I just really need to get through these tests, but I have a feeling that I’ll procrastinate.” 

Like Walker many students find an issue with procrastination, a 2019 study conducted by the APA reported that 80-90 percent of students procrastinate. The study also found that procrastination led to increased stress, and anxiety.  

Finals are causing people from all ends of the spectrum to worry. Abrielle Walker, a freshman, reported that, “It is my first time doing finals, and I know that midterms were like finals, but having to know everything that we learned all year is freaking me out. And I don’t even know how to study for them. Nobody ever told me how.” 

It has become a common consensus among students that study habits were not a thing taught or learned throughout middle school, causing the transition to high school to be harder. Sophomore, Hannah Friedman said that, “I know how to study on my own only because I’ve had too. I’m not sure if my methods are that effective. I’ve never been taught how to study.” She further pointed out that, “It’s likely partly attributed to covid. If we weren’t online, maybe we would’ve been taught how to study.” 

The Association for Psychological Science said that, “ Researchers and experienced educators have found that often students don’t have good study habits and skills, or that they rely on strategies that don’t work.” Students are relying on habits that continually do not work, and because of it many of them do not know how to study.  If students do not have the right skills to be successful, how will they succeed? 

This is not the case for all students though, Ap scholar Alissa Smith said that she studies by, “It sounds silly but I like to explain things out loud to people that have little to no prior knowledge on the topic.“ Smith persisted, “It’s one thing to learn the content, but another to put it into your own words. I’ve found that this method works well for me. I  did it a lot with my parents and got a five on the APUSH exam.” 

Like Smith, Baani SIngh, a student in ap chem spoke on how they studied for the exam, “for ap chemistry, I would find a bunch of practice problems online, or practice tests and do those.” furthering this she mentioned that, “I think repetition is key, repetitive practice too. You want to make things stick and I think that this is how.” 

Although successful, Smith added that, “ I did put off studying till the last minute, and all my friends will tell you that I was extremely stressed because of it.”

By putting things off and lacking proper study techniques students find themselves in trouble. Stress has been seen as APS found in their study that it can have harmful effects on ones body.  Some side effects of stress are: “Feeling nervous, restless or tense · Having a sense of impending danger, panic or doom · Having an increased heart rate · Breathing rapidly”  The gap in study skills education is a widespread issue among students,  they also note. 

When putting important events off till the last minute as seen from an array of students stress can and will take a tull. The gap in study skills education is a widespread issue among students, as noted by the Association for Psychological Science. Without proper study habits and strategies, students may struggle to perform to the best of their abilities during exams. This highlights the importance of incorporating effective study techniques early on to equip students for academic success.