Passionate about criminal justice and social justice to help others in the community
Welcome back Loyola! I love the start of new years and new semesters because it feels like an opportunity to reset and start anew. This is especially so if you’ve had an unwelcome experience with exams. Exam season is always stressful, whether you’re a 1L, 2L, or 3L. You never really know if you’ve studied enough, and curved exams can be your friend or your enemy. This past fall semester, I had two exams to worry about: Business Associations and Law of War. Both terrified me for different reasons. No matter how much I studied, Business Associations felt extremely difficult to master and had a vast amount of information to remember. I studied for about five hours for five days straight and with each passing hour I felt even more unsure of how much information I could retain. In times of crisis, I like to vent and get advice from friends, and in this case I reached out to a friend who had taken the course in the past with the same professor. She told me that I should not worry so heavily and that the professor’s exam was fair. This alleviated some tension for me and in the end she was right! The exam was difficult in some ways but in others it was fair and covered exactly what the professor had discussed.
Law of War on the other hand was troublesome because it was a take-home exam and I had no idea what to expect. While I did study I did not feel the need to overstudy because I would have access to my notes. This exam turned out to be the opposite of what I had expected. The professor had informed us it would be about two hours and we would have eight total hours to complete. I ended up taking six hours. Granted, I spent some time going over the material but nevertheless I was amazed at how long it had taken me to respond to the questions. Ultimately with exams you do the best you can with what you have. Sometimes you have a week to study, and other times a few days. No matter the situation, it’s important to focus on doing what you can do and not comparing your study methods, or grades to others.
The best part about finish exam season is getting to take a break! This winter break I was able to spend time with the people that I care about and take small trips to Nevada and Yosemite. Nothing compares to reconnecting with your life after focusing on school for months!