Daily Egyptian
Fall '04 Edition
Adjusting for finals
John Henry
Daily Egyptian
With only five days until finals week, students are beginning to cram into every nook and cranny of the Student Center and Morris Library.
Jenna Toppert, a freshman from Annawan studying anthropology, said she comes to the Student Center every day on her lunch break to study.
"My grade point average is important to me," said Toppert, who was nestled into a booth in the Student Center Mississippi room. "I stress out a lot about what my grades are and what I'm going to get on my tests. And I should probably study more than I do."
Toppert said she felt she came to the University unprepared.
"I had no study habits," Toppert said. "And now I find myself coming here every day during lunch to study because I can't do it in my room. There are so many distractions over in the (Brush) Towers."
Toppert said coming to college made her a procrastinator.
"I don't study until I absolutely have to," Toppert said. "I don't feel like I can get anything done unless I know it has to be done. I think I get so much more done when I know I have to do it than when I don't."
As many students reach for the coffee pot or the phone to order delivery for an all-nighter, Barb Elam, Stress Management Coordinator of the Wellness Center said sacrificing hours in bed harms our ability to think.
"Usually I don't recommend people doing all-nighters," Elam said. "Research has found that if you do get some rest or some sleep after studying, it consolidates (the information), compared to people who stay up all night."
Elam recommended students make a study schedule, vary what they study and schedule some breaks.
As a break, Barb Bigogno, a nurse for Health Services, said exercise is an excellent way to cope with the stress.
"It's a perfect outlet," Bigogno said. "A lot of people say it clears their mind and they have a more productive study period after exercise."
Elam said exercising, even for 10 minutes in a dorm room or house, gets the oxygen flowing and is one study break she recommends, along with a very limited amount of coffee.
"Some coffee is actually helpful to stay alert," Elam said, "but not overdoing it to where you're jittery."
Craig Engstrom, a first-year graduate student studying intercultural communication, said he basically locked himself in his room over the weekend.
Engstrom was working on a 30-page research proposal for his ethnography class and a five-page literature review for speech communications.
Engstrom said he stayed in Friday, Saturday and Sunday. He said he runs and cooks to relieve stress.
"Of course I took breaks," Engstrom said. "I found outlets, which is the most important thing."
Engstrom said when he was a business finance undergraduate, the hardest part of his finals was the memorization of equations.
"The behavior of students perpetuates itself over the course of the semester, but particularly over finals week," he said. "It all catches up, and those behaviors become worse, I think, in the sense where they eat more fast food."
Engstrom said he would like to see the Recreation Center stay open later instead of University facilities that provide midnight snacks.
Elam said when it comes to crunch time, students should forget about socializing, the phone and e-mails.
"It's a stressful time for people, even if they had prepared," said Elam. "There are a lot of projects and papers due, especially if you haven't prepared. But there's still time left."
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Last update: Tuesday, December 7, 2004 at 4:20:05 PM
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