Editor’s Note: This article is part of a collection of articles relating to student life during finals week that appear in the Dec. 2 print issue.
Finals week can be the most stressful time of the semester. Not only because of the exams we are taking, but all of the work we have put off.
That’s right, with only two weeks left in the semester it’s the time of the year when MC students scramble to finish their papers and hand in their homework, no matter how late they have to stay in the library.
Procrastination is undoubtedly the biggest hindrance to a college student’s grades and time management skills. According to an article published in The Guardian, “Procrastination is the disease eating away at student productivity – and with exam season upon us, we’re facing an epidemic. An American study estimates that over 70 percent of students “exhibit [this] behaviour”.”
The problem can be seen on the Manhattan College campus. Sophomore Alexandra Frederick says that the internet is her biggest hindrance when facing a difficult work load.
“I procrastinate the most by going online and looking at all of my social networks multiple times, regardless of their changes, or lack of,” she said. “I had to get the ‘self control’ app to concentrate.”
Frederick isn’t the only one who is being distracted by her computer. Senior Alexandra Brunetti finds herself online shopping when it comes time to work. “I do pretty much everything [to procrastinate]” Brunetti said.
“I’m a huge candle addict, so I am always looking for a new candle,” she said. “Or plane tickets, or clothes,” she said. “Sometimes I’ll just complain about the work, or clean my room, or go to my friend’s room.”
Sophomore Jill Magenta finds her phone more distracting than the internet. “I call people a lot when I’m trying to procrastinate.” In order to stop the distraction, Magenta puts he phone on the other side of the room.
“Sometimes my friends and I will take each other’s phones when we are doing work,” Magenta said.
Regardless of the distractor, procrastination is a huge reason that stress goes up during finals week. While the easy solution is to make sure that each semester students follow the syllabus closely and stay caught up with the work, that is almost never the reality.
Most of the time it simply comes down to running out of time that forces students to do their work.
“For example I have a 30 page paper due Thursday,” Brunetti said. “When I get down to the wire and I really need to get the work done, the time crunch really makes me do it.”