Finals. A week dreaded by high school students everywhere and a headache to prepare for, no matter how organized you are. Many spend several hours every day the week before finals cramming in study sessions along with regular class work in the mix.

Finals have been around for a long time and are known for stressing students to a breaking point. On top of this, many classes continue teaching new material up until the day of finals. Also, it is not uncommon for students to have a few tests the week before finals, forcing them to prioritize between two essential parts of school. As a result, students often do not receive adequate study time in class and are left with unanswered questions. Many high schools have mandated at least one day to review for finals but one day is clearly not enough to review a semester’s worth of information.

This is supported by a study done by researchers at UCLA that shows that cramming everything into one day is not an effective way to review for a test. This also holds true for a student studying for multiple exams in one day; it is not going to work. The brain simply cannot retain so much information all at once. Many students are forced to resort to this ineffective technique because they must balance their regular schoolwork and studying for a final exam.

Finding an absolute solution to this problem is difficult; however, a temporary solution is clear: Give more time in class to review material. Though teachers would have to hurry some of their regular school lessons, it would free up a couple days for students to ask questions and review with a teacher. Doing so would help students study more effectively for finals and in the long run improve exam grades.