By Maggie Whitman

After returning from winter break, students and teachers alike will quickly jump into the dreaded finals week to finalize Semester one. Although, do all students feel this dread? Finals week has been notorious for dumping immense amounts of stress, chaos, and weariness on young adults, and maybe even teachers, but is that changing this year? 

So the big question was asked, are you stressed? Molly Simons and Jocelyn Kaplan, seniors at CVU, both answered yes. For Molly, she’s most stressed about AP Human Geography. Jocelyn’s stressed about AP Physics. Are Advanced Placement (AP) classes the issue at hand?

According to a study done by The University of Wisconsin-Madison, Advanced placement courses are a direct link to lower self esteem and lost confidence. Although this sounds daunting, it’s actually proven this doesn’t alter the effectiveness or legitimacy of the AP courses. Found in their study, low self esteem issues don’t correlate with doing worse in a class. If anything, this is building important problem solving skills for the future and will properly prepare them for the workload that is college.

Another big stress is the changing of classes. The fall semester finals week marks the end of lots of classes. CVU will be a revolving door around the building during mid January. Fortunately, this can lead to a better schedule for some. Jocelyn Kaplan told us her future semester is much lighter, only having her AP classes rolling over. New schedules will mean new change, and change is good, but not according to Molly. Her spring semester will be very busy meaning she is very much not excited. 

Important question for students: do you prefer a self made project reflecting your research and comprehension skills throughout the semester, or are you old-fashion and prefer an exam that only requires studying and showing up to take said exam. 100% of respondents said they’d rather do a project all the way. According to most, they believe it’s a better representation of their learning and they don’t have as much stress.