Cumulative Finals

The dreaded week of finals is finally here.  Everyone on campus is heading to the library, loading up on caffeine and bad food, and cramming for all the classes they didn't really learn anything all semester until last week when their professor said, "It's cumulative."

I understand the need for finals but does it have to be that stressful?  For the most part, I think we (as students) put the stress upon ourselves.  You have all semester to study for this one test.  Learn the material the first time and it won't be as hard to study for.  Or actually go to class and listen to what the professor has to say because they might just give you the answer to the final.  But why do finals have to be cumulative? Oh that's right, professors want to make sure we got the whole concept of the class and actually retained the information for 16 weeks! Well then my question is, why did you test us three times during the year? We obvious either got it or didn't on the past tests so why make us retest on the same information?

Luckily, only two out of the four of my finals are cumulative and of course they are going to be my hardest ones.  But surprisingly, I'm not stressing this semester.  It might be because I'm completely burnt out or that my classes are actually interesting and apply to my future jobs that I can retain the information a lot easier.  BUT guess what? My two cumulative finals are both in subjects I would only use in real life and not in my field of study.  Surprise, surprise. But another cool thing about one of my classes is instead of a final we got a hands on experience (THE Hospitality Gala) and our grade is based on how well we executed the event (we raised $200,000!).  Like someone said in my class today, "The money we raised goes TO the college.  They should GIVE us an A!" haha So hopefully, that class won't be a worry.

But to all you people freaking out about the cumulative finals, good luck studying in RBD where everyone else is going to be... not studying.  Studying is not communicating with your BFF that's in Italy on Skype.  Actually sticking your nose in a textbook is the only thing that is going to help you pass your finals.  But to all you people who can actually get things done at the library, I commend you.  My dining room table will work just fine for me.  Good luck on finals and just think, YOU'RE ALMOST DONE!

Waiting for summer,

Kayla