Final Straw

Load up on coffee, drink a Red Bull and take an aderal; the rest of the week is occupied by the one thing students spend all year forgetting about.

For some it breezes by with little to no stress, for others hours are spent cramming and studying, staying up all night to try and prepare for finals week. It is around this time of year the panicing begins, and conversations are haulted by "I have to study, I'll call you later," days move into nights seemlessly. The easiest way to prepare is to balance your workload, and to make sure there is enough time to do a thorough, disciplined job.

"When it comes down to this time of year, I drink a lot of Red Bull, usually stay up most of the night. It's really a matter of giving yourself enough time that you're not cramming things all together at the last minute," said Pete Sheehy of UMass Lowell. "I'll study for a long time, but on the night's before I make sure to get a good nights sleep."

This seems crucial when preparing for an exam. A student can only handle so much when challanged with a final exam on 2 or 3 hours of sleep. Unlike during the school year, it is hard to fake one's way through a final.

"I need sleep. If I don't sleep I'm finished for a test," said Gregg Harris of Northshore Community College. "I'll be dragging if I don't get at least 4 or 5 hours; I make sure I cram during the day and let it all settle overnight," Harris said.

One thing that haunts students is the pre-exam brain-freeze. It happens right as the test is handed out; all night was filled with studying, even a little before the exam, and right as it is placed on the desk, the brain panics and shuts down, leaving the student crippled of all knowledge previous attained.

"Don't even get me started, that's happened a few times and it's the worst, it always happens when I study for a while, too," said Doug Wilder of Bentley. "I have sat there too many times and said to myself, 'Shit, I forget everything,' when I'll have studied all night and looked things over before class, it's rediculous. Usually I'll just sit and think a minute, though, and it'll all come back," Wilder said.

Sometimes it's not even a question of how long students study, and the lengths they go to prepare. In most cases, it is just out of their hands in the case of the start time of their finals. The alarm rings at 7 am, giving you enough time to shower and get ready before a final at 8 am, on a Saturday no less. The scheduling for finals seems to be the most irritating and nerve-racking factor in taking the actual test.

"No matter how long I study and no matter how long I sleep, I'm never going be used to having to wake up so damn early. I seriously doubt all these professors have things to do during the day, and for whoever is setting these times, I just don't get it," said Grant Wilson of the University of New Hampshire. "I'm sure it's inconveniencing the professors too, it just doesn't make sense. I can't wake up that early for anything, let alone to take a 2 hour test," he said.