Summer is on the horizon.
Lying ahead are warm days by the lake, cold drinks with friends out by the fire. Yes, the time of year every student looks forward to is almost here.
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But anyone who has ever spent a year in college knows of the last obstacle that lies in-between them and the sunny days of June and July.
Finals.
Yes, finals: where four months of lectures, notes, quizzes, case studies and exams are accumulated into one two-hour examination. The atmosphere on the campus becomes of a hectic and fearful nature as students clamor to cram every last bit of information they can store.
If you are in majors like my own, you probably have finals that come in one of two forms: Essay or multiple choice.
Now, if you are anything like me, you prefer one of those options more than the other.
That’s right, essays.
That may seem contrary to popular opinion of most people, but the reality is essays tend to be easier. An essay requires an individual to take all that they have learned on a topic and put that information down on paper in the form of an argument. That tends to be easier for me. My problem with multiple choice is simply that I just over think the questions. I see one answer that I am positive is correct, but it could also be another one. I question aspects to the exam I should not, like I can be positive that the answer is “C,” but the last three were also C, and it is unlikely that the instructor would put three in a row, right? At this point it becomes less of a exhibition of knowledge and more of an internal struggle where I catch myself looking for patterns instead. For this reason I have noticed I miss questions I should not of. Those questions that when the test is returned, seem obvious and I cannot believe I missed that question.
Over the course of my career in college, I have been unable to reach a point where I can study enough to go into a multiple choice test and do well enough to be pleased with my results. At the same time, I can go into an essay style exam studying less than i do for a multiple choice exam and do fairly well.
Multiple choice tests simply make me doubt myself. I have an active mind and no matter how well I know the material, I still get tripped up when given options.
So, as the summer approaches, I just want to give a shout-out to my fellow over-thinkers as they prepare for their finals.
And to everyone as finals approach…
Good luck everyone and remember, we are all in this together.
