With all the excitement about winter break, there is still something all students must do before the hype begins – finals! Not just finals, but also papers, projects, and presentations as well. This week will be crunch time for any Keene State College student, I can almost guarantee it.
After Thanksgiving break is when everything takes off. Thanksgiving break is almost a tease. We have five days off and then we come back to school for two weeks and a week of finals. With that said, those two weeks prior to finals, there is so much going on and that must be done in order for winter break to be possible.
I’m sure during those two weeks that it is the time when students get the least amount of sleep during the whole semester.
Now we are looking towards the last week before finals. Some people may even have finals this week. However, that could be a good thing or a bad thing: the good thing is you may not have to take a final during finals week, so you may get to go home early; the bad thing is you have less time to prepare or work on final project, paper, presentation, etc. Some professors may think they are doing you a favor by giving you a final early, but depending on the difficulty of the course it may not really be beneficial to you. However, we’re not professors, so unfortunately we don’t have much say – unless of course your professor asks for it.
Students who think they can slack off during the middle of the year and make up for it at the end are in for a rude awakening. This being my third semester at KSC I have experienced two semester end points.
I know that in order to keep up with everything there can be no slacking off at all during the semester. The students who think it is no big deal and all you have to do is do well on the final are the students who just want to get a passing grade in a course.
Being someone with a double major whose every grade counts, I aim high. I can not slack off at all if I want to succeed and graduate with two degrees and know I gave it my all.
This next week is a test, a test to see how well students do under pressure. A lot of students put a lot of pressure on themselves during the week leading up to finals. There are extra review/study sessions for courses, the library extends its hours, and, like I already said, less sleep.
Some students can survive on no sleep and stay up researching for their papers or projects. I think the more college you have under your belt, the more you learn how to do work on little sleep. You may find yourself up until 2 a.m. at the library, and then realize it is closing and you find yourself having to go back to your room to do more studying.
All nighters, energy drinks, and stress are probably three of the most common things that any student will experience during this next week. However, even those who work hard this week will probably be extremely stressful. The reward will come at the end when you realize that you’re done and you have a whole month off from school!
Also, it will be rewarding if you did do all that work that it pays off with good final grades for your courses!
Ellissa Coburn can be contacted at
ecoburn1@ksc.mailcruiser.com
