By Alison Caracciolo | Staff Columnist
It’s that time of year again. The week of seemingly-endless sleep deprivation and countless anxiety-ridden finals. With each passing year, these nightmarish exams seem to creep upon us faster than we are ready for them.
But nevertheless, it is time to hit the grind once again.
Now is the time for students to actually look through all the notes they most likely forgot about from the beginning of the semester (or for others, now is the time to look frantically through your notebook for the notes you should have taken from the beginning of the semester).
It’s the one time — besides midterms — the Gumberg Library becomes a hideout for most students on campus. With one year under my belt, I have learned it is a constant scavenger hunt to surround yourself with as many of the electrical outlets as possible to secure you and your study buddies an optimum position for the innumerable tedious hours of studying to come.
Gumberg does a great job at accommodating all of the stressed-out college students on campus, but it could do an even better job at meeting more students’ needs by staying open later in the week prior to finals. For many students, myself included, we try to get a jump-start on preparing for our papers or studying for our final exams the week before the mad rush to Gumberg.
Gumberg Library will be open 24 hours during finals week. On Dec. 7 at 7 a.m., the library will open and then will not close until Dec. 15 at 9 p.m. Instead of being open for 24 hours in the middle of week, it will be the most beneficial for many students if the library was open Dec. 4 as well, which will provide a full week of maximizing all the studying preperation needed for finals.
“It’s nice that the library is open all night during finals week, but it would be nice to have it open all night the week before as well,” said Abby Zadrozny, a sophomore international relations major. “I know that I have a lot of final projects and papers due before finals, which is stressful because I find myself doing those instead of getting a head start on studying for my exams.”
It’s natural to assume that the majority of students tend to begin their studying process, papers or projects early because it is nearly impossible to cram all five to seven course loads of work, and finish each with confidence, in a week’s time. On the contrary, though, many professors assign for their papers to be due before the actual cumulative final takes place during exam week.
I definitely feel for the workers at Gumberg Library, as these times each semester must be grueling for them, as well. But if the library was open a few hours later during the week prior to finals, we as students can achieve a better path to academic success.
While later hours during that week would be beneficial, it also doesn’t help that many students are coming off of a week-long break for Thanksgiving. It’s safe to assume many of us didn’t move far from our couches during that entire week, let alone buckle down and actually get some work done.
The break before finals is a tease. As we unwind from the constant course work and start our shopping lists for the holidays, our minds tend to be more focused on the mountains of Christmas cookies we can eat rather than endless studying we must do before the semester ends.
Personally, I try to bring coursework home to get a head start because I know I will be cramming, but catching up with old friends and family inevitably consume sall of my time. Before long, it’s the night before something is due. I’m cramming to finish my assignments or trying to get ahead on classwork, but I seem to always be fighting a losing battle.
Essentially, all this stress, anxiety and time management will help us in the long run. Especially if Gumberg would stay open later the week before finals. If we can make it through finals week, we can make it through any real-life challenges that come our way.
Happy finals to week to all, and may the odds be ever in your favor.
