How are you holding up during finals week?

[dark+matters]

How are you preparing for your final exams? (I'm procrastinating by checking my horoscopes uncontrollably and by getting on this lovely forum.)

 

[Nick]

Finished history online class stuff by this morning at 2am.
Been working on a 15 page screenplay I hope to have done soon.
Have to figure out my NMR proton and IR spec graphs for lab, hopefully tonight.
Microbio lab test monday I want to look over some notes so I have a chance of passing.
Inbetween all that I have to learn a months worth of orgo chem for next weeks test.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

I've been able to stay away from TF2, but I keep opening my browser. I've been reading and writing notes straight since Thursday though, my eyes are going to shrivel up.

 

[ddspada]

I'm rereading Camus' The Rebel, The Just Assassins and The Myth of Sisyphus; and Sartre's Nausea and Dirty Hands, in order to write an essay.
I'm rereading Plato's Republic for a test, and Phaedo, Theaetetus and Meno for another essay.
I have to study Heraclitus, Xenophanes, Pythagoras and Thales for another test.
I'm also reading commentaries on the above, and drinking up to twelve cups of tea per day.
Over the past few days, my eyes have started to ache and become dry.

 

[Wolf18]

Procrastinating. Just not bothering with my history assignment. Trying to do as much work at school, and as little at home, as possible.

I won't stress it, though. I've been trying to read books that I really want to read, listen to music and the like to keep myself sane.

SW

 

[EditorOne]

I'm doing tremendously during finals week.

Of course, I'm not in school.

Feeling silly today.

I followed two plans for finals when I was in college.

1. Keep up during the semester, review everything during finals.
2. Keep up during the semester, sell my books and use the money for beer. (That wasn't a whole lot of beer. Book sale proceeds and beer prices seemed to have been inversely proportional.)

Both plans produced the same result, leading me to conclude that for me, keeping up during the semester was the real answer. Your mileage, along with the number of beers to feel a buzz, may vary.

 

[dark+matters]

I don't think I've smiled with all teeth exposed in an entire month except to appease people I don't have the energy to deal with. It's sort of like an exhausted dog tucking its tail between its legs. (Although I did smirk at how everyone is also procrastinating, experiencing eye strain, and thinking about books and beer. I really want to read that assassin play now.)

I'm staying up too late studying, and I'm waking up too early by accident.

I go to sleep thinking about math. I dream about math. I wake up in a fog of thoughts about math. But when I'm fully awake, this level of focus totally evaporates.

There is an extremely long pubic hair sitting here beside me at the last remaining library desk on any of the five floors of my campus, and it's really, really starting to bother me.

Despite extreme worry over accumulating an out-of-control lump of student debt, I ordered a large, sweetened iced coffee at the cafe under the library, and apparently, I am a man, because the name on the cup is very clearly a man's version of my name. I know my profile picture is of some kind of leucistic rat snake with bunny ears, so it's hard for anyone here to tell, but I am definitely a woman.

 

[Vrecknidj]

I have printed all the finals for two of my classes at one university, and I have created the finals for the two classes at the other university.

My stress comes after the exams, when I have to grade them (and rely on my graduate student teaching assistants to get their grading done before grades are due).

 

[dark+matters]

What classes do you teach, Vrecknidj?

 

[ASquare183]

As a high school student, reading stories about college finals is mildly discouraging.

 

[TheManBeyond]

i feel like this guy

Spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ospxlZZM2Hw

 

[z12]

I have a huge problem.. I need to start studying calculus but i can't bring myself to it.
To make matters worse, i scored 0 out of 9 (yes, numeric scoring system in my country) in the midterm exam. So i will need to score at least 10 out of 11 in the final exam to pass!
I did study for midterm exam, but admittedly not enough. I only studied for like 4 hours. However i found the exam so difficult that i couldn't even write a quarter of an answer to a question
I'm gonna fail aren't i?

On the other hand, I'm probably going to get a 20 out of 20 in English and Machine language programming.. So i got that going for me. (majoring in software engineering)

Any advice on how to motivate myself to pass calculus?

 

[dark+matters]

Calculus can help you to prepare for the zombie apocalypse...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/zombies-calculus-1.html

 

[dark+matters]

I took a pre-calc algebra test that lasted 3 hours yesterday... pre-calc trigonometry lasted over 4 hours today... one more final to go for me and then I'm free! Free!!!

 

[Vrecknidj]

What classes do you teach, Vrecknidj?

This semester, at the public university:

Race & Gender Issues
Biomedical Ethics
Professional Ethics

At the private university:

College Algebra
Applications in Mathematics
Macroeconomics
Managerial Finance

 

[dark+matters]

This semester, at the public university:

Race & Gender Issues
Biomedical Ethics
Professional Ethics

At the private university:

College Algebra
Applications in Mathematics
Macroeconomics
Managerial Finance

Wow- that's a lot! Do universities usually make their teachers take on so many classes all at once?

 

[Vrecknidj]

Wow- that's a lot! Do universities usually make their teachers take on so many classes all at once?

Each school has its own policies. Generally, about 75% of all courses at universities in the United States are taught by what are called "contingent faculty" (of which I am one). Contingent faculty earn maybe 15% of what professors earn.

Since the 1970s, the number of tenured positions has declined roughly continuously, contingent faculty positions have grown rapidly. The difference in cost to the university has been paid to their football coaches and administrators. The number of administrative positions has risen dramatically.

 

[Valentas]

I am always worried before exams. I just cannot help it - cannot trick my brain into submission.

This semester proved that my study habits are very horrible and I am now researching ways to deal with that. I met a person who basically partied the hell out of semester and collected As everywhere. He taught me some tricks and now I try to implement them. Second year at university really kicked my ass because of procrastination and generally I was studying medicine and experimenting instead of doing computer science, only two weeks before did I remember that exams are almost there. Ended up studying for 2 weeks and did okay but I will never ever do this to myself again because such cramming is bad for you.

Such are my experiences before and during the finals. Currently, it is freedom back in my home country.