Finals are a word that typically make students cringe. However, as a reward to the kids attending Taft High who received a 3.5-4.0 last semester, there are exemption forms to be picked up and filled out! Exemptions forms allow students to get out of either one or two finals of their choice (if the teacher of that class accepts them). Forms will be in Mrs. Conners’s class in room 233, students who received a 3.5 or higher will get one form and students who got a 4.0 or higher will get a double-exemption form. If you don’t qualify this semester, some extra studying and effort will put you in the direct path of an advantage that could not only benefit your school work, but your stress levels as well just in time for Spring finals.

With final exams approaching, so are the headaches students will soon develop. Whether their final schedule consists of mainly core classes or mainly electives, the word “final” can be enough to stress a student out completely. Senior Jessica Hartness stated, “Before each final I take, my heart drops and then races. It may be from all the coffee I drink but I’m pretty sure it’s the anxiety.” Most students go through dead week and finals week with two maybe three hours of sleep each night and then drink several cups of coffee the next morning. See the problem? Whether the teachers, students, curriculum or classes are to blame, a solution is necessary. Kaylene Teter and Yadhira Quevedo added, “It spikes everyone’s anxiety. We feel like our whole personalities change and our entire focus is on not failing high school. All we want is to calm down but we can’t.”

Tips from the editor before you allowing stress to take over:

• You perform better when you’re relaxed.
• You can’t go wrong with doing the best you can.
• Your grade doesn’t define you. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses.

Good luck, Wildcats.