Thirteen Things I Hate About Finals Week (TT#1)

This is my first foray into Thursday Thirteen I can’t guarantee that I’ll do it every Thursday, but today I managed to think of an idea.  So, here are thirteen things I hate about finals week, which is next week.

1.  Devoting a weekend to studying (obvious, but true).

2.  8 am final.  Enough said.  There is a reason I do not schedule classes before 9:30.

3.  Two finals in a row.  Yes, there is a half hour in between, but that is not nearly enough time to cram in extra studying and obtain sustenance that I was unable to get before the aforementioned 8 am final.

4.  Writing papers.  Why do all the professors have papers due around finals?  Aren’t they aware that we are already swamped with studying?

5.  Re-memorization of previously forgotten statistics formulas.  I have no less than 20 formulas that I need to memorize for my stats final.  I’ve had them all memorized at one point during the semester, just not at the same time.

6.  Distractions.  These usually come in the form of Christmas movies on TV.  They make it incredibly hard to study.

7.  Tedious extra credit that provides one with a mere point or two.  If I am going to spend two hours working on an extra credit paper, I would like more than two points for it.

8.  Reading the books I should have been reading throughout the semester.  My computer science quizzes have always been online, which means they are open-book, open-Google, pretty much open-everything.  The final is not open anything.  Thus, I have to crack open the text book that has been collecting dust on my desk.

9.  NaNoWriMo is over.  All right, it’s not directly related to finals week, but NaNo was an excellent distraction from studying that I no longer have.  And yes, I do appreciate a distraction every once in a while.

10.  Selling back books.  You purchase a $200 text book at the beginning of the semester.  If you’re lucky, you’ll get $50 for it.  Chances are, it will have gone to a new edition and the book store will not take it.

11.  Classes where the professor teaches new material right up until the end.  Some professors review for the last couple classes.  Others cancel class knowing that their students would rather be studying.  Then there are the ones who teach new material on the last day and tell you it will be on the final.

12.  Packing.  When I am not studying this weekend, I will be packing to go home.  I just know I am going to forget something and I will have to live without it until I return in January, due to the fact that the dorms will be locked.

13.  Pre-leaving laundry.  Laundry is always an irritating task in my dorm, but I am sure everyone is going to need the washing machine early next week, which is when I will need it as well.  Chances are, I will do my laundry at midnight while cramming for the 8 am final.

14.  Papers that are worth a quarter of your grade.  My final essay for English class is worth a quarter of my grade.  I currently have a horrible grade in that class and desperately need above a 90 on that essay, but the chances of getting a grade that high are slim.  I’m trying to write it exactly how she wants, but it is proving to be difficult.

15.  Knowing that freedom is only moments away.  In a week I will be done.  Completely and totally done with the semester.  But right now, it seems incredibly far away.  It’s so close yet I cannot grasp the freedom.  Thinking about it only makes the time creep by even slower.