Wow I have not written a post in a while, sorry guys! I'm back now though to talk all about that six letter word that nobody likes to talk about: FINALS. That's right I said it. Before you came to college, you probably had finals in high school, but it's nothing like finals in college. Finals in college are so much harder, right?
That's what everyone says before you start in college how your finals are worth like 50% of your grade and in some classes you might only have a midterm and a final. A lot of people told me that, and like a naive person I believed them and thought I would fail my finals and fail out of school. So thanks a lot people for scaring me! Unless you meant that as motivation for me to study a lot, but still not cool! Anyways, I am here to inform you, with the wisdom of a college senior about to start her seventh semester of finals that is not true at all! Sure you might find your finals hard, but they are not any harder or scarier than they were in high school.
I cannot speak for every major and class, but I have never taken a class where the only grades are the midterm and final and neither have any of my friends. And most of the finals are worth 20% of your grade which is what it was in high school. And finals are not super hard, designed to make you fail. So then what is the difference between college finals and high school finals since that is the title of this article?
Well first things first (I'm the realest), you might not have a final in every class. That's right you heard me. Unlike high school where it is pretty much a law that you have a final in every class, in college its up to your professors to decide if they want to have a final or not (since they are the ones writing them, this is only fair). They can decide if you will have a test, a final paper or project. As I got more into my major and started taking higher-level classes, the amount of finals I have has decreased. It seems like it should be the opposite right? But no, its the truth. One semester I did not have any finals! This semester I have two and one is online so we get to use our notes and book. You will probably have a final something, but this might be a paper or project that is due before finals week. If I did not have a final for a class, I usually had a group project.
In college, finals are during a whole week after classes are done. Now I know this might be the same for some high schools, but at my high school we did not have a special week devoted to finals. We had them during our regular classes and then still had class right after. I know, kind of weird right? But in college, your finals are spread out over a week which means your winter break starts whenever your finals are done (sorry to all those people with Friday finals). This can be a good or bad thing for you. You may not want to wait and just take all your finals on Monday, but hey more study time. Your finals could be spread out over different days and times.
Another thing I would say is different about college finals is that they may not be cumulative. The majority of my finals have not been cumulative and it was just like having another test. This is nice because you do not have to go back and remember everything you learned at the beginning of the semester.
The last thing that I can think of that is different between college and high school finals does not even have to do with the actual final. Its about how colleges treat you during finals. Free breakfast, cuddle time with puppies, treat bags, free massages (seriously massages!!), these are just a few things that colleges do to try and take the stress away from finals and give the students a break from studying. Thank you college!
So whether you're still in high school, but already worrying about college, or a college student getting ready to take a final, try not to stress about it to much, you will get through it! Finals are never as bad as you think they will be and you will not fail everything! Soon you will be on winter break (another perk of college, at least three weeks off) and finals will be a thing of the past not to brought up again until May. Hey girls: Ryan Gosling believes in you (sorry guys, there weren't any memes with a hot girl actress)!
