Summer: so close, yet so far–especially with the abundance of tests and exams that take place within the last few weeks of school. With state testing, AP Exams, the Reading Inventory and finals, there always seems to be something to study for–or stress about.

“(So many tests in the same few weeks) is just really bad for students’ mental health….” junior Josh Hassell said. “It’s just really mind-numbing, tedious work that a lot of us just don’t want to do at the end of the year because we’re all excited for summer.”

This is a thought shared by many students.

“I hate (taking a bunch of tests at the end of the year) because it all piles up and it’s stressful without the other subjects,” junior Kael Laselva said.

Along with all these tests, there’s also normal unit tests to worry about, especially when classes are behind schedule and need to make up time quickly.

“I don’t know why, but a lot of teachers have decided to just do lots of their unit tests and just everything at the end and try to get everything they are forced to at the end of the year,” Hassell said.

Because seniors finished school two weeks before the rest of the students, many classes had to adjust to the sudden decrease of students.

“(With all the seniors gone) it’s lonely because that’s who I usually talk to, because all my (junior) friends are in, like, smarter classes, and the seniors are gone now,” Laselva said.

Some juniors had to take finals with the seniors because there were so many in the class, but others are taking them on the last two days of school like the freshmen and sophomores.

But, that’s four finals in the span of two days, which, if students have a schedule filled with multiple difficult classes, can be a strain.

“It’s definitely more stressful than if (they were) spaced out or timed differently, or like spaced out throughout the week instead of all in two blocks on Thursday or (Friday),” Hassell said.

Not everyone shares this worry though.

“I kind of like it honestly, because it feels more organized….” Laselva said. “I only really have two core subjects and that’s US history and Mythology. I have a clay final but that’s a project, and then our culinary final–that’s just cooking.”