Finals week is a challenging and strange time period because it's right in the middle of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sure, Christmas is around the corner, but it certainly feels like we can’t enjoy the holiday until we get through finals.
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As odd as it may be, "Home Alone" is comparable to the life of a college student during finals week.
"Home Alone" features a young boy who, by himself, has to defeat a certain challenge -- the challenge being the robbers -- from destroying his house, and furthermore destroying Christmas. We too feel alone, having to take on the responsibility of studying by ourselves. There is also a lonely feeling around this time of the semester since not as many people go out, not just because of the decline in weather, but because of how busy they are. And like Kevin, we just want to see our family and be at peace again.
As college students, if we don't pass our finals, Christmas will essentially be ruined for most of us -- the same way Christmas would have been ruined had the robbers managed to rob the McCallister’s house.
When comparing finals week to "Home Alone," we could say the robbers, Marv and Harry, represent our obligations. No matter how hard we try to relax during finals week, we feel like our obligations creep up on us, and are surrounding us, no matter where we are. It almost feels like we are being watched, like Kevin does with the robbers. The robbers can also be compared to the finals, as they are trying to destroy the house. Finals, I feel, are almost designed to lower your grade, and a lot of us feel as if they are out to diminish our grades.
Similar to defeating the robbers, a well-thought-out and elaborate plan is required in order to face the challenge of finals; they cannot be passed without good strategies, confidence, and time-management skills. Kevin sure planned out how to stop Harry and Marv just in time. One could say the traps, in relation to finals, are the studying strategies. The difference with college students is that we have more time to prepare for finals; but nevertheless, it still feels like a very small amount of time.
Many college students may feel like Kevin running home from church the night the robbers plan to attack, to get to his house at precisely the time they said they planned to rob the house. Suspenseful would be an understatement for the moment we are heading to the actual final. We are either compelled to run to them while all 100 details are still fresh in our heads, or we feel like walking as slowly as possible to savor the small moment of peace before entering hours of agonizingly staring at a paper while our brains are being fried.
Kevin’s situation is similar to finals; since no one else can help us, we have to ultimately figure out how to defeat finals and do it all on our own.
Let’s also say that Buzz is the side of you that tells you that you can’t do it. Kevin's mom is our lost self just trying to get back to reality and our sane self, and the whole family is our peace restored.
Finals week can either be miserable, or smooth and somewhat enjoyable. If planned out correctly, finals week can even possibly be fun to some extent. Kevin had a lot of fun doing risky and scary things to the robbers. Finals can be quite scary and nerve-wracking, but there’s always a way for everyone to make them better. Plan out studying the best you can, find the most effective study skills, and don’t view finals week as something you’re incapable of.
Don’t let finals outsmart you, and threaten to bite your fingers off. Well, maybe they’re not that evil, but at times it’s easy to feel like they could be. If finals were alive, they would probably try to bite our fingers off. Use finals week to effectively plan out the best strategy for defeating your final exams and don't let them rob you of your grades you worked so hard on.
