Finals, Finally

Here I sit, surrounded by piles of books. Three of my final exams are in the form of "take-home" tests, which is often another term for "research paper". Throughout my undergrad career I have had a love/hate relationship with take-home tests. On the one hand, it's nice not to have to study for a formal exam. Also, the take-home format eliminates the stress of the exam itself, which would normally involve getting to class on time, various classroom distractions (food-related noises are the best), and a strict time limit.

However, instructors usually mitigate for what they perceive to be the "added bonus" of getting to work on the exam at home. Generally, the exams manifest themselves as essays or short research papers. The following is a genuine example:

"Please respond to TWO of the following questions (one from each section). Each response should be at least four, but no more than seven pages in length..."

Translation: 8 to 14 pages of detailed answers to two, multi-faceted questions, substantiated by information from lecture notes as well as several books. In reality, if I were not such a perfectionist, this type of assignment might seem much easier.

Still, somehow I will wade through the sea of final exams (two exams are in the traditional, in-class format, and for one class I have a 25-page research paper due, in lieu of a final). I keep reminding myself that by this time next week I'll be fondly recalling my days as an "undergrad".