Soothing words from Steve

Senior predicts students will survive finals

By: Steve Maloney – Columnist, Senior

With the inevitable finals week less than a fortnight away, it seems like the perfect time to hear the soothing words of Steve. I’m here to quiet your worries, keep that smile beaming on your face, and inform you that we’re all going to get through this.

In the grand scheme of things, finals week is not all that bad. Sure, each exam may cover three to four months of material, but if you’ve been halfway paying attention you’ll be just fine. You’ll probably cram up until the exam is passed out and then pass out when it’s over, but history says this week is not as big of a burden as it’s made out to be.

Breaking it down, you will find an hour and 50 minutes is a relatively short time period to be expected to remember very specific details from an August lecture. At least, I wouldn’t expect you to remember them!

Remember the basics, remember the general processes, and you’ll discover you know a lot more than you think you do. Whether you believe it or not, your professors want to challenge you, but they also want you to be successful. Use them as resources of knowledge.

Have fun during finals week! This is where you may start thinking Maloney is a nut, but seriously it can be a decent time. Now I don’t mean hit up Tim’s the night before your organic chemistry final, but take advantage of the things UD offers during the week: free massages, free food, therapy dogs, 24-hour access to the RecPlex, etc.

Never think a study break will be detrimental to your studying; it will most likely be helpful in maintaining your sanity. Also, who’s in for a midnight rage fest at Club Roesch at some point?

Remember you are not the only one going through finals week. You may stress when you hear people say that they only have one or two finals (both of which are always “easy” for them), while you have two each day staring you in the face, but it’s been done before. You can’t fault yourself for doing your best, so make sure to put forth your greatest effort.

The light is bright at the end of the tunnel. Sometime you have to go through hell to get to heaven. Fortunately for us, hell in this case is just a few hours of testing on material we’ve already been taught. And heaven is a beautiful, month-long break with family, friends, Christmas, New Years, and a whole lot of rest and relaxation after a semester of hard work.

You’re going to survive, and you’re going to do great. See you in the spring, and enjoy your well-deserved break.