Finals

Final exams are the playoffs of the education system. They are at the end of the season(semester), you have to actually perform at a certain level during the semester to get there(for it to make a difference), and it has the potential to significantly change your outcome that year. You can't bomb everything during the semester and hope you make up for it in the finals. Most finals usually count between 25-40% of your grade; this means you have to go in with aleast a 35-20 average AND ace the final to make any difference(go from an F to a D). But for someone going in with a reasonable grade, a final has the potential to swing you anywhere from a D to an A.
It's unbelievable how much those two hours at the end of the year mean. That finals aura is palpable in the collective mood of the entire school. Everyone is tired, shabby, and rocking the coffee stained sweatshirt and/or the playoff stubble. Diet is mostly of the fatty and oily variety. Laundry machines and showers see very little action.
The main topic of conversation leading up to and during finals: "How many do you have?". You curse the guy who has none, silently rejoice in front of the poor bastard who has 5, and express your sympathy for the one who has consecutive 2-a-days.
You start off optimistic about a decent grade but as they go on, you slog through just praying for it all to be over. That feeling when you hand in that last one...joy isn't quite it; you're likely too tired to for joy or happiness. Relief is more like it. Done! Time to go straight home and crash.
That day can't come any sooner.