Student Outlook -- Huong Thai

For every high school student in the Newport-Mesa Unified School

District, this will be the last week of the first semester. The one word

that is occupying every student’s mind is finals. Many students have

already begun to prepare for their finals as early as last weekend. As

always, everyone will have to take a final exam for each class, which is

significant because it can make or break his or her grade. This

ultimately puts a lot of pressure on students, especially for those who

have borderline grades. Students tend to get stressed out trying to cram

every bit of information that they have been learning in the past few

months within a couple of days, or even a couple of hours.

As they say, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” This means that

in order to do well on the final exam, it is very important to study and

review the material at least a week before the test date. By not

procrastinating, you would be more prepared; consequently, your stress

level would be lowered and you would be able to concentrate better during

the exam.

Everyone understands the concept that studying hard and not

procrastinating are essential to succeeding in school, but sometimes the

lack of motivation, along with our busy schedules, gets in the way. Yet

if one has optimism, perseverance and time management, one can overcome

any difficulties along the way and, in the end, succeed in school.

This semester, there are students who have always been very consistent

in keeping up with their work and have solid grades in their classes. For

them, they do not have to worry as much about the finals as those who are

struggling. Because of their solid grade in class, their final grade for

the class would not be greatly affected even if they score very low on

the final exam. These students who have been working hard throughout the

semester have a great advantage over the rest; still, because they are

highly motivated, they strive to do well on the final exams as well.

Next Monday marks the beginning of a new semester, where every student

will have a fresh start grade-wise. Perhaps as a late New Years’

resolution, we as students should resolve to work hard, be consistent

with our work and try not to procrastinate, all of which will reduce the

stress for us when next semester’s finals come along.

* HUONG THAI is a sophomore at Estancia High School, where she is the

editor of El Aguila’s opinion page. Her columns will appear occasionally

in the Community Forum section.