College Lesson Learned #45

#45- Nobody warns you that the week before finals is actually WORSE than final week.

People have a tendency to tell some false stories. I’ve been told by many people that finals are terrible and they are the worst thing in the world and all that jazz. Whether intentional or not, they lied.

What many people don’t understand is that the week before is much, much worse than the previous week by far. The week prior to finals I like to call Silent Week. It is the week in which almost all of campus shuts down and the library reaches maximum capacity. Not a sound can be heard in the dorms and everyone looks at you in the library if you inhale too loudly. People disappear and you aren’t sure if they’re even still alive or if they have a toothbrush and a shower in the computer labs.

Why is this? I’m glad you asked.

This occurs because of procrastination and poor planning (on both the professor and students’ part). This week is the week that all your portfolios, term papers, and projects are due. All your professors think that they are the only professor with which you are taking a class.

Let’s do the math: let’s say you’re taking about 16 credits, which is more or less 4-5 classes. So let’s say that in each class you may have at least one term paper, portfolio, or semester project. If you’re writing a term paper, that’s probably 8-15 page paper in which you have to research, write, and edit before that day. A portfolio, being a collection of your works from over the semester, may only require one new work, probably under five pages, but you have to edit everything from the semester on top of that. As far as projects go, I’m not an engineering or science major of any sort, so I won’t pretend I know anything of that sort, but I can imagine it’ll be hard.

So with all that work, those large portions of your grade are usually due on the last day of actual classes. Now most classes meet either twice or three times a week, making most to all of your work due in two days. That’s a lot of work in a short amount of time, especially if you’re a procrastinator like me.

Then after you turn all of that in, all there is left to do is study for finals. Finals week isn’t too exciting. People kind of just sit around. Nothing happens.

Moral: Finals week > Silent Week