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I call it “Hell Week”—that week that occurs once or twice a semester, when every one of your professors decides to schedule their midterms back to back, as if to spite you. This year, my first “Hell Week” featured four midterms and one 5 to 10 page paper, all within those fleeting five days. If I was able to convey in writing the deepest amount of sarcasm possible, I would say it was definitely an “exciting treat.”
The problem with me is, as a former straight A high school student and someone who is trying to be fiscally responsible, failing my midterms (and therefore my classes) is not an option. However, for some unknown reason, getting worked up about these sorts of things until the very last minute is also not an option for me. Some would call that a plus, but perhaps if I had begun to worry about my tests, I wouldn’t have made the following mistakes, mistakes which made “acing” them not an option either. If you avoid these, I’m pretty sure you’ll do better than I did.
Multitasking: Or “how Hollywood hurt my grades.” During my first “Hell Week,” “House” premiered, along with (dare I say it?) “Gossip Girl” and I’m pretty sure there was an “Always Sunny in Philadelphia” marathon. Holding my math book in my lap for the multiple hour T.V. events with my neighbors didn’t actually help me study, or count as study time. For some reason, learning by osmosis didn’t work, and neither did learning while surfing Facebook or chatting up my roommates. However, if you think that you’re a multitask master, go ahead, just know that it didn’t work for me, or for anyone in this Stanford study.
Not stopping to breathe: Once I finally realized that I had two days to learn a bunch of stuff I hadn’t paid attention to before, the only solution I could think of was staring for countless hours at my open books. If you’re studying for too long at a time, your brain turns to mush, you stop being able to think and you become delusional. Well, there’s no scientific proof for any of those claims, but from personal experience, if I stay at the library for more than a few hours, I start focusing less on the material in front of me and more on the random designs carved into the desk dividers, the person picking his nose on the floor below me and other such things that really won’t do anything for my grade. So do something that will get you away from your books, so that when you start studying again, you can be constructive.
All nighters: I didn’t make this mistake this semester, because without my seven or eight hours of sleep I really cannot function. But my friend did, and eating lunch with her the day of her test was slightly hilarious; she was loopy and brain-dead, to say the least. And while entertaining your friends should always be a priority, being completely ludicrous on the day that you take a grade-deciding test is probably not the best idea. She said she was just going to drink a few Monsters before the exam and then later told me her hand was shaking so much she could hardly fill in the Scantron. I can’t say she did that great.
So now, with my final “Hell Week” before—well, finals—looming, I can only hope that I learned from my previous mistakes. In any case, I won’t be overly stressed about it, and I plan on studying, passing the tests and getting on with my life. One thing is for sure—I will be totally ecstatic when the weekend hits and if you’re in my situation, I know you’ll share that sentiment.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Alaina Rouse at Alaina.rouse@colorado.edu.
