Finals Week & Stress

“Stress: The confusion created when one’s mind overrides the body’s basic desire to choke the living daylights out of some jerk who desperately deserves it.” - Lee Iacocca.

At this point in the semester, some (if not all) students have dealt with stress. There’s worry about finishing assignments in time, passing finals and passing classes. Not only is there worry, but there’s the want to rush through exams so they will be done and summer can finally begin. Stress is a big problem that can get in the way... a lot. From what I’ve learned through this Academic year, high school stress has absolutely nothing on college stress.

There are two links that I have found that can help with both cases: stress during finals and college stress in general. Seeing as finals are coming up within the next two weeks, it’s a good idea to make sure to keep stress at bay.

How to Reduce Stress During Finals Week is the first link, providing a list of examples to try to lower stress. There aren’t many examples given, but the ones they do give can be helpful. The idea that I like the most is making a list and writing down everything. Writing down everything can make a person feel less stressed, as they have a clearer perspective of the week to come. One of the examples that I do not suggest, however, is spending 15-20 minutes doing something fun. It’s not that I don’t like the idea, because I do; but I’m sure that I’m not the only person who knows the outcome of this. You’ll give yourself a 15 minute time limit, then when it gets to that 15 minutes you’ll move it to 20, and so on until you have spent over an hour watching YouTube and playing a video game. It’s a good idea, just not for teenagers.

How to Reduce College Stress is the second link that gives tips on everyday stress. The tips given in this link are self-explanatory and should definitely work. Some of the tips are kind of common sense: get some sleep, get some food, and get some fun. When stressed some of these things don’t come to mind though, so it’s best to follow the advice given.

I wish the best to all students with their finals. Only a little more than a week left before the end of the semester!

Classes

It’s getting closer and closer to the end of the Spring 2012 semester. Students who have slacked off at the beginning of the semester are now kicking it into high gear to raise their grades before this semester ends. One thing that I have learned this semester is to make sure you keep track of how many days you can miss, and if you’ve gone over that limit. Also, keeping track of tardies is also a good thing - some professors count two tardies as an absence. At this point in the semester, I don’t think that students want to end up dropping out because their tardies added up and caused them to fail a class.
In comparison to last semester, I feel that I’ve improved a lot as a student. Keeping my grades up hasn’t been a problem, but getting them to where I want them is now my goal for the rest of the semester (along with passing finals).
If you’re unaware of your grade in a class, I would suggest emailing your professor asking them what your grade is and, if it’s low, how to improve it. It may seem like improving your grade will be an extremely hard task, but it may be as simple as getting a good grade on the next exam (depending on your grade and where you want it, it could be harder than that).
For some students, dropping out seems like the best option. However, despite that it may seem like the best and easiest option, it is not the only option. It is best to improve your class standing now rather than later, as there would be less pressure/stress.

“Chemistry is a class you take in high school or college, where you figure out two plus two is 10, or something.” -Dennis Rodman

Finances

Almost halfway through the semester! Winter is nearly over, Spring is coming in, and Summer should be here in no-time! Though, as we near the beginning of March we realize that we only have so much time to do everything. There’s classes, tests, homework, studying time, worrying about filling out scholarship information, FAFSA, figuring out the living situation for next semester, etc. But it’s times like these when a person has to get his/her priorities straightened and make time for each important event.
Remember to make time to sit down and fill out the scholarship information (which is online this Academic year). The deadline for 2012-2013 is April 2, 2012. The FAFSA deadline, however, is March 1st. March 1st as in tomorrow’s date. I hadn’t checked my FAFSA, nor had I remembered any of my information, so I waited until the day before (today) to finish. It’s always good to make time and remember these dates just in case you go to fill everything out when it’s too late.
Figuring out how to pay for college is one of the most important things during this time, so it’s always good to be punctual with the deadlines.
If any of my readers have an idea for my next post, let me know via SMT Facebook, Frostburg Email (cawarnick0@frostburg.edu), or comment below!

“When we make college more affordable, we make the American dream more achievable.”
-William J. Clinton.

Welcome Back!

    Welcome back FSU students! It may just be me, but it felt as though Winter Break would never end! Not that we would want it to... I hope that all of you have had an amazing break and are ready for the Spring semester!  I know, for one, that I couldn't bare the thought of classes starting and tried to prolong coming back to campus for as long as possibly I could.  Now that I’m here, I don’t understand why I was pushing it off for so long.

    This semester is going to be a bit different from the first, not only because it’s my second semester as a freshman, but because I’m also taking an online course.  I’m sure that some of you are getting into the swing of things while others are trying to figure out how to manage themselves this semester.  My fear at the start of this semester was that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with my online course; now I know that said fear was irrelevant, as long as I make enough time for myself and the class.
    Some of you may already be having trouble with your classes, but do not fret, for it is not too late! There is still time before it’s too late to drop/add a class; so I suggest that if you don’t feel as though you’re capable of handling a class, then make a decision on whether you should keep it or drop it.
    In addition, a special thank you to those who have read this blog and contacted me about it! : ) I enjoy getting feedback on how I’m doing and learning whether the tips I give are complete garbage or not.
    Good luck to all of you this semester!

“We all have ability. The difference is how we use it.”

- Stevie Wonder.

Finals!

"You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you."

- James Allen

Our last day of classes is almost upon us, and as the semester starts to end I find myself wondering more and more about finals.  Passing my classes is the main goal I have created, not expecting to obtain a certain grade.  Despite that most people want B's and A’s, I would be content with a C or a D, just as long as I pass the class.  Some could say that I lack the motivation but I’m willing to admit that I slacked off a bit when it came to studying, and it’s coming back to bite me in the end.  At this time of year, slacking happens a lot more because of the season.

Winter break is almost here, depending on when your last final is, and plenty of students are ecstatic at the thought of it.  There are Christmas movies playing on TV, snow is on the rise, and most are cheery after getting into the holiday spirit.  Celebrating this time of year is a tradition to a lot of the population, especially with me.  I get to celebrate my birthday five days after Christmas, and this year it’s the big landmark of 18 years! The only problem is getting to that point without having an anxiety attack because of finals.

10 Tips to Maintain Your Sanity During Finals will definitely help out during this time of need.  Sanity is something that needs to be kept in order to ignore ‘bombing’ your finals, unless your ‘sanely insane’.  It may not be understood what I mean by that, but if you are ‘sanely insane’ you’ll definitely understand.  As it states on the website, ignoring caffeine and sugar is a very good thing.  There’s no use in studying while hyped up from caffeine, especially if you’re not going to retain any of the information and end up crashing during the exam.

Listening to the instrumentals of a song while studying could also help; you could imagine the instrumentals in your head while taking the exam, and remember the information you had obtained.  Try to avoid sad songs; I can only imagine how it would work out if someone listened to “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” while studying.  There are probably other tips out there that I have yet to discover and will hopefully discover soon; does anyone have any? Remember that you can always email them to me through my Frostburg student email! :)

I wish luck to all of those with finals coming up!