Frightening Finals

The first semester of the 2025-2026 school year at Lakeland High School (LHS) comes to a quick end.
This checkpoint marks off the first half of the school year, and that there is just one last stretch until summer break. Most students may be excited for the last semester, it is the beginning of the end, but it is also quite stressful.
As the semester ends, finals arrive. Finals are one of the biggest stress factors among high school students. All the study cramming, procrastination, and anxiety are just a few of the restless side effects that lead up to these nerve-racking exams.
Students have lives outside of school, whether it’s a sport, a job, or any extracurricular that involves time outside of school.
These activities could make it hard for students to balance finals.
“It kind of sucks because when I’m working I could be studying for finals, but except I’m working. I have to stay up late to be able to study,” Junior at LHS, Peyton Davis, a lifeguard at the Croc Center said.
Sports are also a big time consumer during winter. Basketball players and wrestlers have a hard time finding time to study.
“Wrestling makes finals really stressful. Practice takes up a lot of time, I have no time to study. I also don’t know anything going on in my classes which doesn’t help.” Freshman varsity wrestler at LHS, Colby Adams said.
Extracurricular activity or not, studying takes time.
Students have different tactics to contain knowledge while making use of the time available.
“I use a lot of self discipline, I don’t allow myself to do certain things if I don’t study,” Junior at LHS Emery Benson said. This strategy helps Benson maintain her outstanding grades and high GPA.
Taking a test consisting of everything students have learned in the span of 5 months can be mentally challenging and take a lot of effort.
Who remembers 5 months worth of material?
While studying is boring, it is worth it. Procrastinating only builds stress and crams everything- I know from personal experience.