Students react differently to the stress of finals week.

Gina Johanek, freshman elementary education major, said that she doesn’t really feel stress during finals.

For freshman business management major Brian Bowman, however, he said that finals is “a pretty stressful week.” There is a lot of weight placed on the tests, he said. Finals might mean the difference between two grades, he said.

Carlos Saenz, junior finance major, said that each of his tests just seems like another one to take, since he has so many. He said they will all be difficult though.

Junior resident assistant and elementary education major Kerri Gehrmann said that she really feels the stress. She gets stressed with all of her residents’ problems as well as her own finals week stress.

Health Enhancement Services Coordinator Michael Haines has some suggestions for stressed-out students.

First of all, Haines said that students should manage their time. But he said this becomes especially difficult when the weather gets nice.

Haines’ main suggestion is that students should not try to study it all in one sitting, but rather break the day up into “short blocks of time” with breaks in between. For example, he said that it may be good for a student to set aside an hour of study, then an hour of something else, an hour of study, etc.

He said that this “off and on” technique is better than the “all-nighter concept.”

Haines also suggests that students get some sort of physical exercise. Relaxation and regular sleeping habits are also good, he said.

In addition, if students only have a couple of cups of coffee or soft drinks, that much caffeine should not be a problem, he said. High doses of caffeine might make a person seem more alert, Haines said, but that “doesn’t help the memory.”

If real problems should arise, students can go to the Counseling and Student Development Center or call the crisis line, Haines said.