As health teacher Binita Donohue stands at the whiteboard in front of our class, she writes one of the most commonly used words in our lives: “stress.” Even though I was used to hearing and discussing stress in that class, it somehow took on a new meaning as we approached finals. And that new meaning continued for the next few weeks.

In health class, I learned that stress was a helpful thing. It movitaved us, and without it, we would be unsuccessful due to our lack of drive. Yet as studying for finals took precedence over all other activities, such as hanging out with friends or catching up on Netflix shows, I found that I was doing little of what I wanted and focusing solely on school.

All my worries about successfully dominating finals led to more and more stress. This wasn’t the stress I learned about. This stress did not help me or motivate me. It hindered me and lowered my confidence greatly. This stress kept me up at night, and when morning came around, I had minimal energy.

The weekend before finals, I reached my maximum stress level because I was clueless as to how to prepare. I had never studied for finals before. Therefore I didn’t really know how to. I took on even more anxiety which in the moment seemed impossible, but this was yet again a new experience. I began to feel stress, from wondering if I was preparing enough or if I was even reviewing the right material in each class.

In hindsight, my teachers gave me all the necessary materials to prepare well, but in the moment I felt that there wasn’t enough to review, and I wasn’t quite sure how to use the materials they gave me. Because of how worried I was in the moment, I wasn’t able to believe my teachers when they said I was prepared enough—I couldn’t think clearly.

I wanted to use the three days before finals to reteach myself main topics I learned in each class that had a cumulative test in order to secure my knowledge. For classes with presentations, I hoped to run through them a few times each day. However, I quickly noticed that doing so would take way too long.

By the time finals actually began, I felt minimal anxiety because I had prepared so much beforehand that I felt there was nothing left to do but actually take the finals. The fact that I had somewhat over-prepared allowed me to relax between classes and not overwork myself after school, which contributed to a decrease of stress.

The week of finals was less work than a normal week of school, which is completely contrary to what I had heard. From the lack of assigned homework, I felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I enjoyed that I was in control of the way I studied and prepared.

Going into my first finals I would have liked someone to reassure me that as long as I was well prepared, the assessments would not be not as overwhelming as the idea of them. Overworking will hinder you, I see now, and so will studying too much. There needs to be balance. This is the information I wish my teachers had told us. They should have informed us not just what to study, but how to navigate finals week.

Even though I think I would have benefitted if I had been given more advice going into finals, it still would not have made me feel completely confident. It seems impossible to fully prepare with no past experience to reference. Because I had never gone through anything like finals, I was worried and lost, and yet those feelings are inevitable for a first semester freshman.