Many students’ stress over grades, especially test scores because they can either make or break your grade. When a student is stressed over a test, they will have large spikes of cortisol. Cortisol levels increase approximately nine times during stress. “Large spikes in cortisol levels can lead to a lack of focus, recall, and ability to perform tasks,” according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. “Cortisol levels rising and falling is associated with a 0.4 standard deviation decrease in test scores, that is the equivalent of a decrease in approximately 80 points on the 1600-point SAT scale.”, said the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Anxiety and stress interfere with our working memory; when our working memory is interfered with it can be harder to think or remember how to answer the question. Stress can also reduce motivation and increase the chances of the overall achievement to be negatively impacted. Students that stress more are more likely to have a lower GPA. Leilani Yeager, Class of 2025, said, “When I’m stressed, I can’t focus as well on the test, or I forget how to solve the problems on the test and my grade is more when I’m more stressed.”

With finals coming up, stress levels are high; there are many ways to be less stressed. One way is to study the work that will be on the final, and it does not have to be an extremely large amount of time it can be just 20 to 35 minutes a night. The most effective studying method is to space out studying time, by just taking a few minutes each night until finals which can reduce stress by a lot. Studying can also reduce stress by allowing a calmer and more confident feeling. Another way to reduce stress is to be prepared and make sure you are ready and ask questions in class when you do not understand something. Haley Wiersma, Class of 2025, said “When I’m stressed about a test studying the work a few days ahead helps me be less stressed out on the day of the test.”