Sophomore Olivia Eldridge found herself crying on a Tuesday night. She knew crying wasn’t going to help her finish any faster, but with three tests, five homework assignments, due the next day, her stress levels were as high they could be.

Eldridge is not the only one who cries and wishes to be done with studying every late Tuesday night. AP and honors students recognize Wednesday as ‘quiz day’, when teachers tend to use the short period day to test students on certain topics.

For senior Christina Nguyen, Wednesdays seem to be the hardest and busiest days of the week. Nguyen, who takes AP and honors classes, gets assigned multiple science and math homework assignments on Mondays and Tuesdays.

“I usually don’t have enough time to do the work assigned on Mondays and Tuesdays, so Wednesdays consist of me cramming it in other classes and during lunch,” Nguyen said. “Occasionally, I stay up late to finish all of it and I end up getting no more than three hours of sleep.”

Wednesdays can be bad, but they are just a warmup for when the hours increase dramatically during exam week. During this week, the majority of students double their number of studying hours: four hours studying for exams and two hours completing their assigned homework.

Some students find relief in the amount of effort put into studying for these tests, but the amount of stress and anxiety stays the same. Students tend to get an overload amount of homework during exam week consisting of study guides and reviews for the quarter. The source of pressure not only originates from the extra assignments, but also from overlapping exams.

“You have seven exams and have to pass them all while worrying about finishing up all your homework,” Nguyen said.

It is no surprise that with this much stress and work overload, students tend to prioritize core classes, such as math and science, and fail to find time to study other exams. Lack of studying hours and poor time management skills can become a problem, especially for students like sophomore Michael Behrends, who has failed some of his elective classes exams.

“I usually don’t have enough time to study for my electives because I always study for science and math exams first, then do my homework and leave my electives for last,” Behrends said.

Some students, however manage to pass all exams without letting their stress get the best of them. These students have routines and certain rituals that help them cope with exam week such as taking breaks in between studying, taking naps before doing homework and rewarding themselves after studying for every class.

Since honors tend to review material learned before exam week, students focus on taking long, detailed notes in order to minimize time studying and be able to finish their homework on time.

“I play lacrosse, so sometimes it’s hard for me to get home, study and finish my homework early,” sophomore Naysha Greer said. “If I take notes during class as a review for my exam, I know that all I have to do is finish my homework and I can get a good night sleep.”

However, not all students are able to make the best of their time because of procrastination and exam overlap. A quick solution to this is dividing the day into two parts: one where they focus son studying for core classes and one for finishing homework.

“I know I shouldn’t leave everything for the last minute but sometimes it just happens,” sophomore Jacqlene Rosu said. “Dividing my day in two helps because I feel like I didn’t waste any time procrastinating. and it helps me finish my work faster because I have an idea of the time.”

Throughout exam week, students find new ways of coping with the stress and stay motivated by knowing that the upcoming week will be relaxing for them.

“The only thing that gets me through exam week is knowing that next week, it will all be over and that all the effort and tears will pay off at the end,” Eldridge said.