Well, “midterm week” is almost over, and for some of the campus Friday won’t come soon enough. We should have addressed midterms earlier, but, gosh darn it, we just couldn’t help but use our time to update our Facebook profiles, instead.
Honestly, though, midterms are serious for some people. It’s for these kinds of people that we devote this column: the hardcore, the studious, what the French call …. well, we don’t know French, but we will by next Wednesday for our midterm, that’s for sure. So, to those out there being traumatized by midterms, we have some words of advice.
Okay, maybe we only have one piece of advice: It’s not that important. Sure, your grade may rest on the midterm and the final, but if you learned it the first time you have nothing to worry about, right? Seriously, stressing over the midterm will not help you in the end. It will only lead you to freak out later, possibly even on the day of the test.
Twenty percent of college students in the United States show some symptom of test anxiety, according to a study done by the University of Cincinnati. So, just take a step back and relax before studying for your midterm. (Not that we’re encouraging procrastination, or anything. We’re heartily opposed to frantic cramming.)
We’re not stressed. In fact, Ed Board looks forward to this week for the sole purpose of people watching. When else can you sit outside of Hughes-Trigg Student Center and watch students downing a cup of coffee with one hand and reviewing for their test with the other, all while trying to juggle a cell phone and an iPod, in addition to dealing with the traffic of people not willing to walk faster?
If you have time this week, Ed Board suggests taking a seat for a nice breather from the hustle and bustle of midterms to check out the student populaton of your lovely campus. Once you’ve had some time to relax and view your panicking fellow students, get some coffee and go find someplace quiet to study, if you must.
Fondren has study rooms with Internet jacks available to students, and while the west stacks there are creepy, they’re quiet, too. Who knows, maybe the ghost of Umphrey Lee, who is rumored to haunt the third floor, will help you study for that comprehensive communications test.
Just think: In a one more day it will all be over. Come Friday night, all of y’all who have been stressing and pulling out your hair will get to sleep. After the party, that is. But anyway, good luck on midterms. And for this weekend: have fun, be safe and use protection. And by this we mean sunscreen, of course.
