With many students studying for a test encompassing an entire semester's worth of material in the next two weeks, some students feel as if they might fall victim to the increased stress levels and sleep deprivation of finals week.
"This next week or so is the most stressful time of the year for me," said Jose Maldonado, a junior accounting major. "It is the point where everything catches up with me."
Although it is inevitable that students are going to cram for their exams, it is important to know that cramming can only help so much and that applied study techniques are extremely useful and very effective.
"There are many things that can be done to help students study and decrease distractions," said Carrie Miller, director of the SCORE! Kaplan Education Center. "It is up to the students to want to follow them correctly."
According to Miller, procrastination is a problem when it comes to studying, a claim that some students do not deny.
"My main problem with studying is that I wait until the last minute and I am up all night long trying to make up for all the work I missed," said Eric Unger, a senior communication major.
Miller advises students to manage their time effectively by allotting two hours of study time to each hour spent in class.
Frank Ciccia, the director of the Leadership Development Center, said students must plan effectively a week before finals and manage their time in order to do well on exams.
"What (students) should do is to have finals scheduled out with a plan in place. I would also recommend organizing materials effectively as far as what might be on the exam and organizing notes (and) handouts," said Ciccia.
"Part of the problem we have with students who do not do well on exams is that they don't have the materials they need. We also recommend time for a group study if it is helpful and (the group) having an agenda for the group study session," he added.
This agenda will help maintain focus and avoid distractions, which are another problem faced by those trying to study. Noise and visual distractions can easily make studying feel like an unbeatable chore.
"I used to always listen to music when I was doing my work," said Dan Ingersol, a sophomore undecided major. "I realized that I paid more attention when I had fewer distractions."
Some coffee houses, like Stimulance, remain open 24 hours a day during finals week so that students have a place to study other than dorms and apartments, but Miller advises against consuming large amounts of coffee when studying.
"Caffeine will only help you temporarily. In the end it will only make you more tired," said Miller. "When studying, one should never get that comfortable. If a level of comfort is too great than focus is easily lost."
"A good place to study is a place where you can go with no distractions from visual or auditory stimuli," said Miller. "Libraries are great because of how quiet they are. Dorm rooms and apartments are not because of noise and distractions such as other people, televisions, radios, et cetera"
UB has made studying for finals a little easier with the extension of library operating hours. The Undergraduate Library has extended its hours starting Dec.10. UGL will keeps its doors open from 8 a.m. until 2 a.m., two hours later than usual.
"Libraries are very busy this time of year. We try to keep things very quiet. The Cybraries are open all night in the Undergraduate Library. We get more info requests at the reference desk and we try to have more staff to help people when needed," said Judith Adams-Volpe, the director of university and external relations.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
