Finals: Part One

The day finally came. The first day of May and my first day of finals. I had a great schedule lined up of College Algebra followed by World Civilizations II (1500-Present). I studied a little bit the night before, yet was plagued by distractions. Forrest Gump was on TV, the computer was calling out my name, and...I just plain didn't want to study. I did make a note card with all my math equations on it, and I read over my notes and found ways that I could answer the various essay questions. Once I got all that figured out, I fell asleep.

My first exam started at 10:00am, so I had to make sure I was up early, I had all my pencils, etc. I had a bad dream the night before that the bookstore would be closed and I wouldn't be able to purchase an exam scantron. Luckily they were open, so I got two of them. I was right about getting the extra exam. I figured someone would forget, and the last thing you need during an exam is to realize you forgot your sheet. I gave the extra exam out, a pencil to someone who forgot, and then I started. It wasn't too bad. I enjoyed math this year, so I knew I could do well. I forgot to study for the "easy" stuff so I left off some technical things on my card. Overall, I think I did very well. Although I was tired from doing all that math.

After eating a sandwich, I went to my next exam. A guy in my class was like, "Hey, do you feel ready for this?" We both agreed that we didn't give this exam as much attention as our midterm. We both had good grades in the class, and we knew part of this was multiple choice, so there wasn't a whole lot of incentive to study. But lo and behold, the essays came! I wrote three pretty good essays if I can say so myself. I wrote about "The Great War" and the causes and consequences, Tradition and Modernity among cultures and....the big one. This question is what the professor described as, "The Essay that will make you cry." I did not cry, I just sighed heavily. The question was, "Which has been the stronger force since 1500: democracy or authoritarianism?" Let me just say this...Holy Crap! Luckily I've been preparing for this, so I had a good answer. Yet, it literally pulled together everything I learned in the course. Smart job on the professor, but it was a pain to write.

When I got done with the exam, my right hand was literally shaking. SHAKING! I could not put a coherent sentence together to save my life. I left the exam thinking, "Russia...Stalin...British protecting crown jewel India...Colonization...2nd Industrial Revolution...Ottomans...Mao..." While I was thinking that, I could only say, "Meahaiodu alieujfll aliefj." I got home and told myself, that I would wait a day to start studying for my next finals. I then made myself a couple of steaks (I'm not kidding), some mashed potatoes, and some green beans in honor of completing my first exams.

I am in the process of studying for my next finals which are this coming Thursday. They are Physical Science and then United States History II. I'll keep you posted on how that goes. In the meantime, I should stop procrastinating and study. Good night!