As the semester winds down, the pace of college life shifts noticeably. What once felt manageable week to week begins to compress into a much shorter span of time. Finals week feels intense because everything arrives at the same time. During the semester, work spreads out fairly evenly, but once finals start, every class suddenly expects a major exam or some large project. It feels like trying to focus on five different worlds all at once. Even when you plan ahead, there always seems to be a moment where it all stacks up and becomes overwhelming. On top of this, the brain is not the best at switching between big tasks, so the weight feels heavier than it actually is.
Running on Empty
Finals, the famous week of no sleep, right after the week of the turkey coma. The days after Thanksgiving feel brutal because the holiday tricks you into relaxing just long enough to fall behind. You come back groggy and nowhere near ready to jump straight into the most stressful part of the semester. Students stay up late trying to review everything, even though tired studying barely sticks. When you lose sleep, stress hits harder, your focus drops and anything confusing feels twice as complicated. Research backs this up, but honestly, you can feel it without reading a study. One bad night turns into three, and suddenly your whole week feels like you are moving through some kind of dense fog with a coffee in your hand that just is not waking you up anymore.
The Unknowns Make it worse
Finals also come with some very uncomfortable uncertainty. No one fully knows what the exams will look like or how much the final scores will change their grade. That uncertainty creates a steady pressure in the background. Even if you did well all semester, it feels like everything comes down to one moment. Personally, that is the part that gets me the most. It is not the exam itself. It is not knowing what to expect.
Manifesting As and a Good Night’s Sleep
 Finals week is hard because pressure, exhaustion and uncertainty all come together at the same time. It is not just the exams. It is the feeling of carrying an entire semester on your shoulders in one incredibly short stretch right after that week of Thanksgiving rest. During this time, students move from one exam to the next while juggling time-consuming final projects, repeatedly refreshing Canvas in hopes of a strong grade, and pushing through long days powered by minimal sleep. Understanding why it feels so intense can make it a little easier to handle and remind students that struggling during this week is completely normal.
Why is This so Important?
In the end, recognizing why this week feels so intense really does matter. When students understand the pressure, the exhaustion and the uncertainty behind it, they are less likely to blame themselves for struggling to perform at their usual level. It shifts the focus away from feeling inadequate and toward practicing self-compassion and setting realistic expectations during an unusually demanding week.Â
Students begin to see that the school system, especially around finals week itself, is demanding. That awareness makes it easier to prepare realistically and manage expectations. It also helps you give yourself credit for getting through something genuinely difficult. Finals week will likely never feel easy but understanding it makes it feel a little less impossible and reminds students that their well-being matters just as much as their grades.