<< Back 12/18/02 The end is near, so what you know matters By Christina Reitz This is the time of year when the most pressing issue on many people’s minds is holiday preparation. When visions of sugarplums dance in the heads of children and their parents are wishing they could just settle down for a long winter nap. For college students everywhere, however, this time of year means one thing and one thing only: Finals. If you think preparing Christmas dinner is stressful, try studying for five exams that could hold your very future in the balance. Just one little test can make or break your grade in that class. That class can make or break your GPA and, if you really build it up in your head, you can argue that your GPA could ultimately mean the difference between the job of your dreams or having to settle for a job that drives you crazy, leading to a life of alcohol dependency that leaves you broke and the next thing you know you’re panhandling on the street corner outside the English class that led you to this life in the first place. All this being said, I have a confession. I like finals. No, actually, being the insane nerd that I am, I love finals. Not the tests themselves (unless they’re multiple choice), but the magical ambiance that accompanies these last two weeks of school. The campus becomes eerily quiet and suddenly people who have never seen the inside of a library set up camp there. This is the time when you find a quiet nook in the cafeteria and pass the day sipping latte after latte cuddled up with that organic chemistry book. A tacit camaraderie fills the air, the words “good luck” rest on everyone’s lips and by the time you finally go to take that test, you feel as if you are the most well-wished person in the world. But what I think I like best about finals, as paradoxical as it sounds, is that actually learning the material takes precedence over grades. During the rest of the semester, grades and expediency usually come before taking the time to actually learn something. If you have assignments for five or six classes, the fact is you’re going to put more work into the class with the hardest teacher and slack off on assignments that don’t count for much or that will be easily graded. Normally you might study for a test in a class just to forget the material because you’re too busy studying for the next test to continuously review and really learn everything. Finals give you the opportunity to bring it all together and make the connections that will, hopefully, cement the concepts and information that would normally be forgotten in a week’s time. So, while the rest of you are busy decorating, cooking and making wish lists, I will be nestled, all snug in a chair while visions of Chaucer dance in the air. While your kids will be dealing with Santa’s elves, I’ll be engrossed in Spenser’s “Faerie Queene” and the physics of white dwarves. But don’t feel bad; I’ll have my lattes, plenty of cheer and if finals do one thing, they make damn sure you get your money’s worth out of your education. (Cristina Reitz is from Haywood County and is a student at UNC Chapel Hill. She can be reached at umbriella11@yahoo.com)