Finals are coming, but stressing out over tests isn’t the thing to do
COMMENTARY
Lauren Cates

With finals drawing near, that age-old feeling that overwhelms me at this time of year is again taking hold. It’s not stress, though I’m sure some people do get stressed out around this time every semester. It would best be described as complete and total apathy.

By the time I’ve sat through 15 hours of lecture, three night classes, five days a week for 16 weeks, the only feeling tormenting me when finals draw near is revulsion.

People may ask about my concern for grades. In that regard, the only thing I’m concerned about is that my overwhelming apathy will prevent me from squeezing by with something I can bring home to the parents which will still allow me to get Christmas presents. Immature? Yes. Short-sighted? Definitely. A solution? Sort of.

I think that college students should ban together to outlaw finals or everyone should skip them all together. Either that or we should refuse to study just for kicks and see what kind of grades we receive. Hey, if everyone goes home for Christmas with a crappy grade report, we can at least blame the faculty and point to our friend’s grades as evidence.

The most depressing thing in the world to me right now is being in the library. Aside from the socializing, the next most annoying and dispiriting thing is everyone on campus stressing out and panicking over something that in the grand scheme of things, means relatively little. Yes, there are scholarships to keep. Yes, there are offices that require a certain GPA. These people have free reign to wig out.

But amidst all the panic going on around campus come two weeks from now, I have always had the overwhelming urge to scream that finals aren’t that important. Whether or not you pass that final is not a life or death matter, and its occurrence will not determine your future in its entirety.

Maybe professors should institute some new type of final that eliminates stress.

Remember those end of the year parties we had in elementary school? Teachers brought all kinds of food and you sat around socializing and listening to Kriss Kross. Something along those lines where attendance and eating lots of free food would allow the majority of students to pass their finals.

Until the finals process goes under revision, which is about as likely as Greek organizations eliminating their test files, a simple attitude adjustment is in order. Just think of the much worse things that could happen aside from finals, that should cheer you up a bit. But don’t panic, don’t stress out, remember to breathe and hopefully shower in the next two weeks.

Opinion editor Lauren Cates is a junior advertising/public relations major from Houston. She can be reached at (l.e.cates@tcu.edu).