Finals in a quarter system are unnerving. They cap off a ten-week course just as you're getting comfortable enough in class to ask questions, make study group, and maybe even enjoy the material. It's an abrupt halt to a quarter's learning trajectory, and then you're going to have to start all over again with a completely different class and material in the next quarter. It's an ongoing cycle you commit to until you walk the stage on your graduation day, but finals' ability to confound and exhaust is ironically tireless.
They're an ultimatum, really. If you didn't learn it in ten weeks' time, they seem to say, then you'll never learn this material at all. Which, really, is ridiculous considering nothing can be mastered in such a short amount of time. When you go through year after year of ten-week classes, you start to realize that your academic experience in college is like a serial crash course that takes no prisoners. People who once seemed like committed students are dropping out, slackers are getting their act together before it's too late, and if you're in the middle--like me--you start to wonder if learning at such a pace is worth all the stress.
Between GPAs, Dean's List, Honor Status, and prospective job opportunities your final exams' grades seem to dictate how your quarter will turn out, but should they really sum up everything you gained and learned in these past three months? The stress is killing a lot of us as we over-caffinate and put off sleep for a few extra hours of studying, but is it worth all the masochism?
I'd like for all of your to take a breather and realize that college, good and bad, isn't forever. It's something we have to push forward to get to where we want to be professional, but we shouldn't sacrifice our health for a week of seemingly infinite stresses. Take a breather, listen to your favorite song, and know that it will all be okay. If you've been working hard all this quarter to push forward, it won't all be for nothing.
Just a little bit of motivation for all of my fellow passengers here on this struggle bus.
We got this.
