And the End Draws Near

As is often the case with busy students, the time goes by without any notice. Thomas Mann wrote that it is monotony that makes time seem short and eventful days feel longer. Well many students would disagree. With all the looking forward to the next exam or due date, pretty soon you are staring at the last week of class and then the week of final exams that follows. Finals week is stressful no matter who you are, but there are ways to make it more tolerable. If you have done well consistently throughout the semester then you probably have less to worry about, as long as you didn't forget everything you learned. Even so, there is usually a significant of new material that will somehow be entangled with the old, and that's the real challenge.

I always save my old tests and homework if they are handed back. Doing these problems without the solutions is good practice and a reasonable predictor of how well you will do. Also I try to find out as much as possible about the exam from the professor or from students of previous years. There is a strange kind of calm during finals week, the few days that are set aside for pure studying are my favorite. There is no other time quite like it, you set your own schedule and you only have one goal. Try to make the most of your time and don't panic if you feel like there isn't enough time. Everyone is under the same pressure and it's best to focus on getting a few things down solidly as opposed to trying to learn it all in two days. It's best to start reviewing a bit earlier, maybe on the last few weekends before finals week to alleviate the pressure. With that said, I'm off to wrap up some studying.