Preview

            Finals week is always one of the most stressful weeks of the year for college students, and a large reason is lack of preparation.

            Despite professors’ continuous warnings, many students still choose to wait until the last second to begin studying.

            Susan Allen, a mathematics professor, said via email that she warns students at the very beginning of the semester that they should begin studying as early as they can because the work will pile up if you don’t.

Dr. Piers Steel, a professor at the University of Calgary has been studying procrastination for over thirty years,

            Steel’s Temporal Motivation Theory (TMT) factors in such things as expectancy, value, impulsiveness and delay to evaluate how motivated someone will be to complete a task.

            Steel says that the people want to have immediate rewards for their tasks, and so if something is a longs ways away someone will be more inclined to procrastinate.

            Michael Stamm, a professor in the department of history and school of journalism, said via email that in his opinion the biggest mistake students make is thinking that they can cram a whole semester of information into the week before the exam.

Recap

          Students all have their own methods of studying, but students often procrastinate until the last minute, when they absolutely have to study.

Jacob Richter, a freshman mechanical engineering major said, “Looking over my notes and going over practice problems that the professors put online really helps because I can actually apply what I am trying to learn through the practice problems.”

Richter said, “I try to start studying as early as I can, but a lot of the time I find it hard to stay focused if the exam is too far away so I typically start my studying the week before my finals.”

Julius Edwards, a freshman human biology major said, that he also finds it difficult to study for an exam that is two or three months away, so he typically procrastinates his studying until the week before finals.

“When I study I like to go over my old tests, any practice material my teachers have on angel or d2l, and teach myself things I didn't get earlier within the year,” Edwards said.