Friday, December 16, 2005

I love final exam time

Who in the right mind would like final exam time? Someone who doesn't have to write final exams, that's who. Oh the joys of being a grad student and being done all your classes. I hated all that stress. Although I must say I would take a final exam any day over having a candidacy exam. The candidacy exam day was probably the most stressful day I've ever had. Thank god I don't have to do that again.

Besides not having to write final exams, the reason I like this time of year so much is because there are no students in the hallways. I can now walk around the university with ease. There isn't the annoying person in front of me who stops all of a sudden to answer his cell phone, or the students who walk SO SLOW because apparently they have no where to go. It's like a ghost town when final exams are on. Except at the library.

I had to go to the library today. Normally I avoid the library because it's pretty far away from the lab and I usually have no reason to go there. Online journals are the best thing since sliced bread. Today, however, I actually had to go to the library to photocopy an archaic journal article from 1989 which wasn't available online. I soon realized that this is where all the students are. All studying hard I assumed. Nope. As I'm looking for my journal on the shelves I couldn't believe the noise level in the library. I don't remember it this loud when I was an undergrad. If I was in undergrad and wanted to actually get some studying done I wouldn't go to the library. It was like hang out central with people chatting to each other and chatting on their cell phones. I don't even think some of them had books open. I also felt a bit overdressed. I wasn't wearing the final exam uniform of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Now I know why I avoid the library.

As I was leaving the library I heard the funniest comment. Some guy was talking about his exams and his friend said something to the effect of, "Oh that should be an easy exam" to which the guy replied, "No, it's Psyc 104. That's my hardest class". Whoa, buddy. What other classes are you taking? No offence to anyone in psychology but compared to genetics courses my psyc courses were a walk in the park. I hope dude isn't in science because if he thinks intro psyc is hard he's in for quite a shock. With my luck I'll be his TA next term.

2 comments:

doctor T said...

Hmmm, UVic is must be weird. There are still too many 19-year-olds in yoga pants around the uni right now. I always feel like a giant when I'm up there. Not fun.

I would prefer final to candidacy exams as well. The first candidacy exam was okay, but I still have 2 to write this year, plus an oral. Oh, and about 300 books left to read. Oh gah, now I feel sick. Ugh.

ScienceGeek said...

Three candidacy exams and an oral exam? Whoa. That's crazy. Thank god I only had the one oral candidacy exam and that's it. That amount of stress was enough for a while.