With fall and winter break being only three weeks apart, the time in between the two can feel like purgatory. It’s easy for the stress of finals to outshine the holidays. Especially as the semester comes to a close, it is common for students to scramble to prepare for their exams, placing more importance on their grades than living in the moment. It is easy to overextend yourself, forgetting basic things like eating healthy, prioritizing exercise and getting enough sleep.
What is becoming increasingly apparent is that while finals are important to both your grade and summing up the learning of the first semester, every extra second spent stressing about your grades is another second of your childhood you’re letting slip by. Whatever you celebrate, December is a month full of love and fun, and spending the days after final exams stressing about your math grade is ultimately taking away from the time you could be spending with your family or friends.
A single poor grade may feel like a reflection of your abilities, but a letter on your transcript says nothing about you as a person. However you perform on one day won’t decide your future; in ten years, that C you got on your chemistry test will be nothing but a blip in your memory. However, the time you spent baking cookies with your loved ones and the white elephant gift exchange you participated in with your friends will stick out in your recollection, so don’t just focus on the potential negatives of the season. These experiences remind us of the bigger picture: personal fulfillment, relationships and growth. Finals may measure academic knowledge, but they don’t capture kindness, resilience or creativity—qualities that truly shape who you are.
Many teachers this year understand the stress of finals, accommodating this by starting their finals early or making it more of an amusing project than one to make you overwhelmed. They know that the traditional and all-consuming 60 question multiple choice exams don’t demonstrate who you are and what your culmination of work this semester meant toward your academic life.
The reality is that you don’t have to be perfect. In the weeks leading up to finals, lock in, do the work and study, but as soon as finals are over, don’t obsess over the grades you can’t change. Instead of staying up in the late hours of the night doing your assignments, go to the St. Charles Public Library Exam Cram and study with your friends. In-between studying, remember to drink enough water and eat three meals. Go on a run, read a book or do something to recenter yourself.
Most importantly, enjoy your break; you only have so many of them left until it’s over.