By Aozora Ito, staff writer
With the upcoming finals week, students are getting anxious about their semester grades. But the real question is: Is it better to take cramming over sleep or vice versa?
According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the best way to maximize performance on finals is to not only study, but to sleep as well. An adequate amount of sleep is key to feeling awake and alert, maintaining good health and working at peak performance.
Students who sleep six to eight hours each day also performed better on “memory and motor tasks” than students who were sleep deprived.
Many students here at Fountain Valley High School stress the importance of resting your body before finals.
“[Cramming is] pointless. For me, getting a substantial amount of sleep each night is exponentially more important than studying for that extra couple hours,” Kevin Takeda (’16) said. “It’s all a matter of time efficiency.”
Other students like Victoria Lee (’16), admits to reducing her sleep hours to cram for finals instead of following the idea of the importance of sleep.
Despite these two options, FVHS students have other ways of preparing for finals. Brandon Huynh (’16) claims that it’s important to stress a little because it gives students motivation to study.
“Studying in about 25 minute intervals is my favorite thing to do because it’s difficult for me to remember everything in a longer session,” Huynh (’16) said.
Another way of preparing for the finals is by writing notes down. Maggie Bui (’16) suggests going through your notes starting a week before finals and summarizing the notes to help you memorize better.
Many students continue to stress and look for different methods to help them during finals. While many students may believe that their only choices are to start sooner and study earlier so that they can sleep well, there are still those who feel that cramming is their only option.
