The class of 2018 will be taking their last winter finals along with the rest of the MVHS student body this week. As they prepare to go into their last winter finals, three seniors discuss what they’ve learned, as well as what they wish they’d known as freshmen.

Senior Esther Chang

Q: How do you think your perspective on finals has changed through the years?

A: This year, I haven’t been worrying as much, because my stress is split between college apps and finals so I haven’t really thought about finals until this week. I started studying this week, but in the past I’ve started studying a lot earlier. It doesn’t seem to be as big of a deal as it was [in my first year].

Q: What finals advice would you give to your freshman self?

A: Don’t stress so much. I remember stressing a lot, there would be a lot of sleepless nights [when I would just be] worrying instead of studying, which is not effective at all. So I would tell my freshman self to study more rather than worry so much.

Q: How does it feel to be taking your last winter finals?

A: Bittersweet. Who would like finals? I don’t even know. But I guess on one hand it’s like ‘Oh, high school’s ending,’ and on the other it’s like ‘I’m really glad I don’t have to take any more high school finals!’

Senior Rucha Bhise

Q: How do you think your perspective on finals has changed through the years?

A: I was a lot more paranoid as a freshman, and now I’ve started to realize how to prioritize my time. So I’ve kinda figured that out a little more now. I think I’ve gotten a little bit better at deciding what’s the best way to spend my time [studying] instead of just locking myself in my room for hours and just hoping to study everything.

Q: What advice would you give to your freshman self?

A: It’s not that big of a deal. At the time, it seems like the biggest thing in the world, and to some extent, if you could’ve spent one more hour or one hour studying and it would’ve led to something that would’ve made you happy or impacted you in a good way, then yeah, spend that hour. But you don’t need to spend 20 hours [just studying]. You still have a life.

Q: What’s the best study habit you’ve found?

A: I’ve just found practice tests really useful. In general, any time I study for anything, a quiz, test, or standardized tests, practice tests are generally the way I go. For me, yeah, I can read over my notes, but at a certain point I’m just staring at a paper and I’m not really absorbing any of it. So I need a way to check “what do I actually know?” I just need a quantitative way of checking myself to see exactly where I am.

Senior Edmund Shen

Q: How do you think your perspective on finals has changed through the years?

A: The biggest difference is that finals has sort of become an overall process opposed to a single event that takes place over a week. Studying for finals isn’t so much about , you know, trying to jump five percentage points, as it is about going over what have you done over the past semester […] people think of studying for finals as a sort of exclusive event that takes place in itself, say like for three weeks before finals, but the thing is that you’ve really been studying for finals the entire year. And so if you’ve been keeping up with the material, then it’s not so much as a special process as it is just a continuation of what you were already doing.

Q: Advice to your freshman self?

A: Probably the biggest thing would have been to not [start studying]  potentially earlier, but just study more consistently throughout the year, because it’s not specifically about you know, again, like the whole process of studying for finals as a specific thing, but it’s more about sort of understanding the material as you go along. If you build your way through the class, then finals review is not really anything new, it’s just the practice.

Q: How does it feel to be going into your last winter finals?

A: For the most part, my finals seasons haven’t been too crazy. At this point, I’m kind of glad that it’s almost over, but at the same time it’s been a process that i’ve also sort of, not enjoyed, but it’s not something that’s been like horrific to me. It’s good to sort of have a week where you’re just sort of realizing like “wow, I’ve learned so much over the past semester” and it’s a time to sort of reflect before you go on break.