The Joy of Exams

This image illustrates pretty much how I feel right now. A little comical, brushing with potential disaster, but mostly, “huh?” It’s exam-time delirium—and I only have two exams, neither of which I have taken yet, but I still feel like Henrik Sedin. Is it the fact that the information I study seems to go in my head and right back out again? Are my exams like the stick, crippling me by sending me to the bench and out of the awesome game that is real life? Or perhaps I’m just reaching for an excuse to post an excellently comical photo!

If I’m feeling a little crazy, my sympathies are certainly with those brave souls who have five finals to contend with! I have observed the frayed nerves of some students, and the relaxed approach of others. And an amusing hurl of verbal abuse regarding vocal volume in the VIU library.

I tend to have some pretty terrible study habits, but astonishingly I have been diligently plowing through the books that are covered on my two English exams, and I’ve been able to track down most of my notes (unfortunately still searching for an illusive page). Like most students, I’m just counting down the hours until I am done and can:
a) watch the playoffs guilt-free
b) read any book I want
c) get back to writing stories rather than research papers
d) stop waking up at 4am in a panic wondering if I’ve forgotten to do anything
e) have some general fun times
f) continue to job hunt (okay, I don’t actually want to do this one, but it is a necessity of life and continuing my education)

I will, on the other hand, be thrilled to continue to update this blog throughout the summer on a monthly basis (or more often if I feel so inclined). Good luck on finals everyone!

Kaitlyn

The Word Count Challenge

Paper writing time also means that the glorious word count competitions between classmates are back. I’ve always been a little slow to pick up on the social networking platforms: facebook, msn, etc. But I have come to learn that they can be put to excellent use. I’ve even come around to using Twitter, despite the fact that I initially found the name irritating and impossible to take seriously (six months ago I would have run from the room, fingers plugged in my ears, humming as loudly as I could if someone said “tweet,” couldn’t stand the term—unless in reference to the sound that birds make, in which case it’s awesome).

Here is one fabulous reason why these platforms are kinda cool: essay word count competitions. Sure they’re petty, the mark of procrastinators, and the time spent changing the status should be spent on the paper, right? All of the above is certainly correct, but these little competitions can also provide much needed motivation to crank out that word count.* If my classmates are hovering around the 950/1500 mark, and I’m at 250 words, then I know that I should probably put down that extra-curricular novel and get cracking. Especially if it’s the night before the due date.

Not that I’m saying that it always is that last minute, but certainly sometimes.

Another wonderful reason for these competitions is that those who witness the competition, but don’t have the assignment, can sit back with their popcorn and savour the feeling of laziness while friends are torturing themselves hunting down online sources or trying to make sense of the baffling thing that is citation formatting. Very satisfying indeed.

Lastly, the winner gets the satisfaction of gloating until everyone else is done as well as the benefits of a proper night’s sleep. Not that I know what that feels like; I’m still waiting to win the bragging rights.

Have fun with those papers,

Kaitlyn Till

*Disclaimer: this does not mean that the papers produced will be of quality. In fact, they may down right suck. On the other hand, they could be awesome. What do I know?