With the Thanksgiving holiday season ending students have returned to DePaul preparing for their upcoming final exams. Many students have gone through finals and understand how these tests operate. On the other hand, the freshman class is the minority. They have never taken the DePaul Prep finals! Therefore freshmen have varying opinions about these tests.

Most freshmen identify finals as end-of-the-semester cumulative tests.

“Finals are an assessment at the end of each semester testing your knowledge about all of the material learned so far,” said Kate Erickson.

Despite this, many have never even taken a final, and this new experience can be stressful, especially given the fact that these tests are worth a high percentage of final grades.

“I feel very nervous about the upcoming finals because I have never taken finals before and because they are such a large part of your final grade,” Erickson said.

Although these tests are worth a lot, most freshmen feel confident about their understanding of the topics covered in each subject. Still they agree that a lot of studying must take place.

“I feel pretty good about the upcoming finals. I definitely need studying though,” explained Zoe Pileggi

Fortunately, students who have stayed on top of their coursework already feel prepared for the finals. Throughout the semester they have worked hard in their subjects by turning in all assignments, and studying for assessments.

“I turned in all my assignments, I studied hard for my quizzes and tests, and I also ask questions whenever I feel it is necessary,” said Samantha Rodriguez.

Finals are not meant to be stressful but a way to track the progress of students, and assess their understanding of the material each semester. Going into these finals students recommend studying and remaining positive despite the unwarranted pressure.

“As long as you study, you should feel confident, but it can still be nerve wrecking,” Rodriguez said.