Tag: Finals

November News

November News

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Halloween has come and gone, and it’s now November. Registration is next week, so those of you who haven’t started preparing your classes, get on it! I’ve come up with a crazy schedule for myself, and it’ll be a miracle if I get it just right. I’ll update you all next week on how things went. Here’s to hoping!

As promised, I said that I would post a picture from Fright Fest last Saturday. Here it is:

And just because this was amusing, one more:

This year’s festivities weren’t quite as outgoing as they were several years ago. The costumes were definitely better, I’ll give them credit for that, but by the time daylight had gone and night had fallen, only several creatures had come out to play. If I decide to go next year, I’m hoping that this changes, because with the weather being that cold, it’ll take more entertainment than I got to stick around.

One fun new thing that I experienced at Fright Fest, though, was the showing of a short musical called “Love at First Fright”. It was cute, funny, and entertaining, incorporating jokes in relation to “The Vampire Diaries” and “The Hunger Games”. Another plus? It got me out of the cold for about an hour.

Back to talking about school and registration, along with signing up for classes, people should start considering searching for jobs and internships. Whether you are looking for a seasonal Winter break job or a Spring semester internship, the positions are filling up rapidly. I’ve begun my search for an internship, and so far it’s coming along smoothly. I’ve gotten two calls back, and I’m hoping to land one of them. I’ll keep you guys updated!

Since we are preparing for Spring semester already, that means that Winter break isn’t too far away, and before break come the dreaded Finals. I know that you all don’t want to think about them quite yet, but begin to consider reviewing materials because for many of us, like me, tests are cumulative and worth a huge chunk of our grades. No matter how well you are doing in a class, some Finals can make or break your grade, so don’t let them swallow you up.

Just a little tip for preparing so early in advanced- look over your materials and try and refresh your memory for now, and material that you didn’t understand before, now is a good time to figure it out. If you need help with a subject, but have not yet gone in for some, don’t be afraid to ask. Find a buddy in class, talk to your teacher, or get help from a tutor. From personal experience, I know that I love to study with classmates- it’s fun and social, and yet very helpful to have a student like yourself explain material to you that you didn’t understand from your teacher or the text. Take that into consideration.

Halloweekend Begins

Halloweekend Begins

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These past few weeks have been busy for me, as they have been for everyone else. Midterms have been coming and going, but they’ve been like that for over a month. My schedule has calmed down now on the school front, and the waters should be relatively calm until Finals.

First order of business I want to cover- Registration for Spring semester is rapidly approaching. For those of you worried about it, like me, I suggest you start stocking up your class shopping cart on Locus now. I have already planned a schedule for myself, and I can only hope that everything goes as planned. I’m going to try to take 21 hours, and right now I’m quite nervous.

Along with seven classes, I hope to find an internship for myself. The seventh class that I want to take is BSAD 351 in the Business department, which requires an internship during the semester. So far, I have found several internships to apply to on RamblerLink and internships.com. Anyone looking for internships should check these two sites out, especially RamblerLink, our school’s job and internship website.

Like I said, my schedule has slowed down now that Midterms are basically over. I have two tests left leading up to finals, and just several more papers before semester’s end. Up until now, I have survived, and in my opinion, successfully. Knock on wood that I keep it up.

In less than one week, it’ll be Halloween, which means that (for me at least) this weekend is Halloween weekend! Though dressing up in a costume isn’t a big concern of mine, I am really looking forward to going to Fright Fest tomorrow. Even though I’m not going with Loyola, a friend of mine told me that the Loyola trip to Fright Fest is also tomorrow, so I’m looking forward to running into some of my friends.

The last time I went to Fright Fest was in high school, junior year, which means that it’s been four years since my last trip. Back then, I only went on several rides and walked around with friends. This year, I want to go to the Haunted House and see the other Halloween-themed events they have set up. I also can’t wait to see the character costumes they’ll have. Here’s a picture of one from “back in the day”:

I doubt they’ve changed much, but I’ll post a new picture of one of the coolest costumes from this year in my next post. Happy Halloween weekend everyone! Stay warm, stay safe, stay fun.

Final(s) Week

Final(s) Week

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There seems to be an overwhelming shortage of new blog posts this week, and I can pretty much guess why: it’s finals week!  The excitement! The adrenaline! The weariness.. the fatigue…

For me, this is also my final week!  One week from now I will be running… I mean walking across the stage at graduation! Let me just say, it is well deserved, especially after this finals week.

I don’t think I have ever been particularly frantic or all that stressed during a finals week.  Or maybe I’ve just repressed those memories.  Regardless, this week has been kind of rough.

On Tuesday, I had my color theory final project due, which required a lot of time and effort to complete. Wednesday was a study break day, which I used to make up sleep that I missed  working on the art project the night before. Then I commenced studying for my contemporary critical theory final, which was very intimidating!  I took that exam today.  I will refrain from commenting on how that went…

Tomorrow I have a five-page paper due, (which I’m currently procrastinating on while writing this post) and an exam for my art history course.  Saturday morning, (Yes!  There are exams on Saturday’s.. in the morning!) is my Spanish final!  I feel like this post is as hopelessly chaotic as my week is going.

But, hey, look! Loyola gave me a stress ball!

How Semesters at Loyola Work

How Semesters at Loyola Work

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Now that we’re into the 3rd out of what I would say are 4 parts of the semester, I think I’ll give a breakdown of how I’ve noticed all the parts of the semesters generally trend:

1. I think the first part of every semester is, in general, a “get to know you” section where the instructors and students learn each other’s style through small individual assignments and lectures. This goes through the first quarter of the semester, usually.

2. The second quarter is a solid increase in student responsibility that comes to a head at Midterms, which is the first major concentrated effort of the semester. Up until this point the instructors are doing the lion’s share of the work to get kids up to speed in the subject. Midterm projects range from the first big paper due to an actual exam and everything in between. Whatever it is, there is a sudden ramping up of effort expected from and given by students that peaks at the end of the 2nd quarter of the semester.

3. After Midterms there is a sharp fall off of effort on both sides; the instructor and students at this point have settle into a comfortable but brisk cruising speed that is a little under halfway between the start of the semester ease and the peak of midterm. This continues for a about half of the 3rd quarter until the next big project due dates become visible on the horizon (usually they are group projects this time around). However, the peak of group projects isn’t quite as high as that of midterms.

4. After the next big peak from the end of the 3rd quarter is a smaller drop off, but then comes Finals week, which is known pretty much universally as “heck week” by many. Later, when the time comes for that, I will try to post a little piece on how to deal with Final’s week stress and successfully navigate the last week and a half or so of the semester. For now, just know that as soon as you clear the 3rd quartile you’re basically always eyeing the end. And it drops faster than a ham on a bungee cord.

That’s basically it. Four different sections that each ramp up the intensity before a drop-off. First comes passive learning while the teacher gets students up to speed, then active independent work to prepare for and take midterms, then an even level of effort from both parties that comes to another head when group projects (or those of similar weight) come due, then one final breath before the charge into Final’s week.