The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

    On a quest to pass finals

    The dreaded finals are upon students yet again, and chances are that the scholars and the slackers have emerged. Everybody knows a scholar. They are the ones that make notecards, make daily agendas, go to tutoring sessions, ask their teachers for help and study until the cows come home. These are the students that  have a better chance of passing finals and attain that perfect end of the year bliss that one feels when you do not worry about passing. The slackers go out with friends, play video games, put off studying and wait for the last minute to study for the biggest test of the year. Slackers are champions of procrastination, and sadly many students, including myself, belong to this group. There are rumors of a group of students who dance between two worlds. They find the time to study, party and still come out on top, but frankly I don’t think they exist.

    Determined to pass each of my finals this year, I embarked on a quest to the University Counseling Center (UCC) to relearn how to take a final exam. I spoke with the center’s director and head counselor, Dr. Barbara Hebert. The center often advises students dealing with the stresses of student and day-to-day life. If anybody knows how to deal with the stresses of finals week, it is Hebert and her staff of counselors.

    I scheduled my appointment with Dr. Hebert for last Monday afternoon at 2 p.m. the week before, which is important because the UCC sees many students a week. I spoke with her about my struggles with procrastination, but to my surprise, she told me that procrastination may not be as bad as I thought.

    “If you’ve done it all of your life, chances are you have some coping mechanisms because it’s gotten you this far,” said Hebert. “It’s important that you get some sleep, eat healthy food, just breath and have some down time.”

    Apparently, some people work better with deadlines looming over their head. As someone who works in journalism, I can respect that, and as a procrastinator, I definitely agree with it.

    After I learned that I’m not a lazy bum after all, Dr. Hebert told me that procrastination isn’t the only thing that can potentially harm students. Stress is native to campus environments, particularly this time of year. Did you know that stress can drastically affect your behavior? It can even shift your eating habits, and give you stomachaches, headaches and muscle tension. As you can imagine, this can play havoc with your grades.

    Stress management is very important if you want to survive college, but there is no mystical tension release button. The truth is that methods of stress relief are different for everybody.

    “Every student has to find a way of dealing with the stress,” said Hebert. “Many students handle their stress through escapism: playing video games, watching television, reading. Others listen to music, or creating music, even exercising.”

    As anyone could tell you, good study habits are crucial for exam preparations. A popular method of study used by procrastinators such as myself is cramming. For those of you who don’t know, cramming is waiting until the night before a final to study for it. On paper, it sounds like a great idea, but in practice, it’s not so great. I asked Dr. Hebert what were my chances of passing the test if I only crammed the night before and she told me my chances aren’t good.

    “If you shove all the info into short term memory, you have a much harder time retrieving it,” said Hebert. “Students do it all the time, and I do not recommend it.”

    With that in mind, my journey to understand the final exam is complete, but I am far from an expert. Still, learn from what I have learned and plan for your final study sessions. Begin studying early, eat right and learn to manage your stress. These ideas may seem very familiar because they are thrown at you over and over again, but do not take them lightly. Take the time to study; it will pay off, and besides, who doesn’t want to pass a final exam?

    If you didn’t see it already, you can check out the final exam schedule on page eight. The first step to studying for an exam is to know when it is, so I strongly suggest you take a look at that schedule. Use this information and everything else I shared with you to have the best possible experience with your finals. Good luck!

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