Well, you
have almost made it through your first year at Trinity! Congratulations. But
before celebrating, you need to hunker down for one last week of hell – Finals
week!
I don’t
have any magic formula for successfully navigating through finals week. You’ve
done this now once before and you should think about what worked well for you
and what didn’t. Did you study by yourself or with friends? Did you start a few
weeks early or just a few days before the exam? Did you stay holed up in your
dorm room or did you seek out some outside refuge? Did you redo all of your
homework, reread chapters of the textbook? Did you go to office hours or help
session? more>>
Perhaps my
only real good pieces of advice are the following. First, try to sleep as
regularly as you can. Avoid all-nighters; coming into an exam fresh and alert
is much more important than an extra few hours of last minute studying. Second,
try to escape from campus for a few hours during finals week. You need some
down time, time to relax and enjoy life to recharge yourself. Take a walk along
the museum reach or go have a cup of coffee at one of the new local
coffeehouses.
And then
once you are finished and away from campus, think a bit about how much of your
life has changed over this past year. Think about all that you have
accomplished; how much you have grown and matured. In so many ways you are all
very different from that nervous first-year getting dropped off in front of
Mabee Hall back in August. Reflect on where you have come from and where the
next three years of Trinity may take you.
We all wish
you the very best during finals and a very happy and fun summer. We look
forward to seeing you all on campus this August as Sophomores!
Dr. Steven Bachrach
Class Marshal
