"WHY AREN'T THEY UP YET?!"

Your stomach has been churning since you walked out of your last exam. You know the grades are curved, but you also know that leaving the last essay blank is not going to bode well on your overall score. You talked to your friends in the class and compared answers. You’ve flipped through your notes again and again. You’ve attempted to calculate your score in your head.

And now you just have to wait.

You pack your bags to head home. Then you check your grades online. Nothing.
You take a cab to the airport. Then you check your grades from your phone. Still nothing.
You check them again as soon as you land.
And again after you kiss your mom hello and drop your laundry in the laundry room.

Still nothing.

You know that there is no way the professor is going to get the tests graded in the next few days so you attempt to forget about it. You don’t want to think about grades anymore, anyway. You’re on break, the test is over and there’s nothing you can do about it now, dammit.

And then you sit down to dinner with your parents and before you can say “Pass the ketchup,” your dad turns to you and asks, “How did finals go?”

“I don’t want to talk about it right now, OK? My stupid professor isn’t going to post the grades for 2 weeks anyway and I did my best and there’s no changing it and that last question was so absurd. No one got it. I swear he never went over that thing once. And now I probably got a C in the class and my entire GPA is ruined. Why do you always have to nag??”

Your family goes silent.
Then someone changes the topic and you move on.

After dinner you check your grades again. Then again before bed. You wake up in the morning thinking about the test. You check your grades again. Still blank.

You try to keep busy – wrapping presents, watching TV, meeting up with home friends – but you still can’t stop thinking about it. You log in again and again. And are disappointed and stressed again and again.

Finally,  during your routine wake-up-and-check-your-grades-while-you’re-still-in-bed, you see it. That little space under to “final grade” has a number in it. A number way higher than you were expecting. You pump your fists. You do a little dance. You email everyone you know in the class to see how they did (but make sure to tone down the enthusiasm in case they bombed…). You run downstairs to find your parents.

Then, for the first time in weeks, you relax. Winter break and weeks free of studying, papers and exams can now officially begin…

You climb into bed a good 3 hours earlier than you normally would, determined to get a full 8 hours before the big test. Then you lay there staring at the ceiling, mentally rehearsing your answers to the potential essay questions the professor hinted might be on the exam.

When your alarm(s) goes off in the morning, you jump out of bed. The exam is in 2 hours and you need ample time to review the notes one last time, suck down at least one cup of coffee and get some brain food (read: Lucky Charms) in your belly. On a normal day you’d still be sleeping, hitting the snooze button over and over. But not today. Exhausted, you wash the sleep from your face, throw your hair up into a ponytail, and put on your lucky t-shirt. Even after countless hours in the library you need all the help you can get.

You flip through your now-tattered note cards as you shovel cereal into your mouth. You’re feeling good. You know this stuff. You’re gonna rock this exam!

There’s still about 30 minutes until test time but you want to make sure you get a good seat so you pack up your bag. Pencils? Check. Pens? Check. Notebook/note cards/anything else you can possibly review one last time before the professor puts that Scantron on the desk in front of you? Check.

It’s time to rock and roll.

When you get to class, you find your perfect seat (not in the front – that’s too close to the prof; not in the back – that’s too far of a walk to turn that sucker in; not in the middle of a row – you don’t want to be climbing over those slow test-takers to get the hell out of there when you’re done). You unpack all your stuff and flip open your notebook to run through the information one final time. Only you’re sick of studying. You know everything you’re gonna know and you just want the test to start already. Where is everyone? Where’s the professor? Why can’t this all be over with already so you can grab your dirty laundry and head home for winter break!?

The room eventually fills in, the professor goes over the rules of the exam (sit two seats apart, no talking, remaining time will be up on the board, turn your exams in to the T.A. on your way out, blah blah blah, good luck) and it’s finally time to show that test who’s boss.

You breeze through the first few multiple choice questions. “I’m totally gonna ace this!” You think to yourself. A couple stump you, so you save those ones for later. You keep on trucking. You’re in the midst of deciding on an essay question when the squeaky sound of a dry erase marker startles you out of the zone. 1 hour left. Sh*t! Breaking out in a sweat, you settle on an essay and start writing. There’s no time for an outline, but you don’t need one anyway. You know this stuff, girl! Ignore the hand cramping. Forget about the fact that your handwriting is starting to resemble that of a 4th grade boy. You’ve got – oh no! Only 30 minutes left!! – to finish this essay, fill in the multiple choice you skipped and review the test one last time.

20 minutes left. Essay done. What? People are already leaving!?
15 minutes left. Someone in your row climbs over you and smacks you in the face with his jacket. Jerk.
10 minutes left. Still have no idea what number 17 and 25 are even talking about. Are you the only person left in the entire room?
5 minutes left. Just fill in an answer. You have a 1 in 4 chance of getting it right!

You scribble in the final bubble.

“Alright. Time’s up!” The professor puts down his magazine and sends the T.A.s to collect the exams from the 8 or so people still in the room. You pass over your exam and instantly feel lighter. Shaking your hand which is now nearly asleep, you put your stuff back in your bag, assess your feelings about your performance and breathe a sigh of relief. You’re done. It’s over. You did OK.

Now all you have to do is email that girl from your study group to go over every last question in detail, then wait 3 painstakingly long weeks for your grade.

—-

Yeah, we’ve all been there. The good news is, you won’t have to do it again for 4 glorious months.

The last few weeks of the semester can get a little stressful. And not because you just can’t seem to find the perfect present for everyone on your list (or in my case because you keep getting distracted by Macy’s shoe department and never get around to buying those other presents), but because of finals. Remember those? Probably not.

If you’re a freshman you have absolutely no idea what horrors await you, and if you’re an upperclassmen you’ve more than likely blocked out this horrific experience. But yet, here you are. Professors are bombarding with you deadlines and dates, final papers and exam study guides and more information than you could possibly handle while you’re still recovering from your Thanksgiving-induced food coma.

Ten-page papers?
Cumulative finals?

You can’t even pronounce half the stuff on you history study guide and those calculus questions might as well be written in morse code for all you can deicer. It’s okay. Take a deep breath. You can get through this.

And I can help.

As a senior taking on her (second to) final finals week, I like to think I have this studying thing down. For a while there I kept getting it confused with napping, but I’ve since cleared things up, and I’m willing to share my infinite wisdom with you. So before you do anything else you need to…

1. Get organized.
You can’t pass your finals if you don’t show up on time, and you can’t hand in your paper if you don’t know when it’s due. So open up your planner and take all of your syllabi ( those things they handed out at the beginning of the semester with a list of reading assignments you haven’t done) and start writing out the deadlines.  Outline your papers, and map out which days you will work on each assignment so you know that nothing will be left to the last minute. By the time all of that is done you’ll have scheduled something for every minute of every day until move out. (Are you panicking yet?)  Normally this is the part where my eyes would start to twitch uncontrollably, and I’d call my friend and we’d rant about how absurd our schedules are for the next few weeks and make all sorts of plans to celebrate once finals are over. Then I’d eat some chocolate and go to bed. But hey, to each her own.

Once that is out of your system you’re ready to actually start studying. But in order to do that you need to…

2. Get rid of all of your distractions.
Turn off your cell phone.  Log out of Facebook (or at least set a timer to limit yourself).  Shut off the TV. Find a quiet corner in the library away from friends and enemies and anyone else you might have the slightest inclination to talk to. Then start working, because you will work, purely because you will have absolutely nothing else to do. Solitary confinement isn’t pretty, but it works.

And that’s why you should…

3. Avoid study groups at all costs.
At least, when it’s time for the heavy duty, serious studying. You want to meet with some people from your class a week before the final? That’s fine. Make outlines, discuss essay topics, quiz each other on stuff neither one of you will know yet and make notes to go over that stuff later on. But when you’re in the home stretch, study by yourself. When you’re with other people you will not study. Trust me, I’ve been there. It starts out innocent enough, someone will make a comment about how your professors says “like” after every other word. This will lead to an in depth analysis of his character which will lead to someone bringing up another professor’s annoying habits which will lead to a discussion on which professors’ classes to take next semester and who to avoid, and what exactly did ratemyprofessor.com say again? Five hours later you’ll be discussing what a great teacher Mr. Feeney was, and reminiscing about the ’90s.

Pretty basic stuff, right? Nothing you haven’t heard before? Well, that’s because it works. Stay organized. Be aware of your deadlines. Don’t leave things to the last minute. Stay away from distractions when crunch time comes, and avoid joining in on a study group that will turn into a social call. Take deep breaths, and try not to panic.

To quote Rory Gilmore, study guru herself, “If all else fails you can always marry rich.”

The following is a guest post by our (nerdy yet totally helpful) friends at Hack College. Check ‘em out for all your techy needs. They’re like the nerdy boyfriend you never had but always needed.

When the hell did November get here? That is what I want to know. Seriously, just yesterday I was telling y’all how to prepare your brains for August and get back into the school mode. And now it’s November. How did that happen and how can I make it stop?

Well, okay, so I can’t stop the furious, oncoming train that is November. I also can’t stop December, with all of its final papers and exams and projects, from hurtling right after it. You might be thinking, “Don’t be silly. December is an entire month away! I have a whole other month before I have to start worrying about things like that. I’m not gonna worry about that ’til after Thanksgiving.”

That is where you are wrong. Let me break this down for you. Including this week, there are two more weeks until Thanksgiving. Exams start a week and a half after Thanksgiving break. Can you study for all of your exams, write multiple 15-page papers, and put together various end-of-the-semester projects in a week in a half?

Answer: no.

The solution to this post-Thanksgiving crunch is to use these two weeks that we are given to start planning ahead for finals season. I know, it may seem excessive. But if you put off preparation for your end -of-the-year work until right before or even after Thanksgiving break, you will have wished you used that two week grace period to do some of that work. Trying to organize the next month of your academic life is daunting to say the least. But with a few tips, you should at least create yourself a nice cushion of accomplished work to allow you to not completely lose your mind in the post-Thanksgiving crunch.

Make Lists of Exams/Projects/Papers

I like lists. Okay, okay, I love lists. They are the best organization tool in the entire world. If you don’t already carry around a notepad or a digital version to keep track of to-do lists and the like, you really should start. It makes it less likely that you will forget to do a small (or big) assignment or task if you keep track of everything you must do throughout the day.

For November though, you should start by making a list of all of your major assignments that will be due in the time between now and the end of the semester. Make note of which tasks are going to take more time and which are simply minor assignments. Making a list like this will not only help you prioritize all of the things that you need to do but it will also help you get a realistic idea of how much you really have to do by the end of the semester.

Look through all of your classes’ syllabuses to make sure you have listed every assignment and to ensure that some unexpected assignment doesn’t sneak up on you. There is nothing worse than feeling you have a good handle on all of your work and then realizing that you forgot about a graded portion of the course that was only mentioned on the first day of class. Don’t panic if your list is massively bigger than you expected it to be. If you use efficient time management skills and schedule your next few weeks to accommodate your list (see the next item), you should be able to finish everything on your list.

Schedule Your Calendar

It’s reasonable to panic while looking at the massive list you’ve just created. You have to do all of this end-of-the-semester work plus the day to day work that is still piling on? Oh, yes. After you’ve made your list of assignments and exams, take out your calendar. I still prefer my Outlook Calendar but many people prefer Google Calendars or even physical, handwritten calendars. Like a notebook to keep track of to-do lists, if you don’t already have a calendar you use consistently, you should get into the habit immediately. Scheduling due dates and other tasks on a calendar helps you visually gauge and organize your life.

Take the items on your list and place them all on your calendar, if they aren’t already. That, unfortunately, is the easy part. Now that you can see when all of your assignments are due and exams are scheduled, you should start to set aside blocks of times to do prepare for these assignments. Because you still have to do your day-to-day work, you will have to play around with designating certain parts of days to certain projects while still leaving space for your daily work. It’s a tricky balancing act. I like to designate certain weekends or weeks to different projects and color code them accordingly. That way I know that next week I will have to work on my Greek religions paper while next weekend I will have to start on my project for my Communication class.

By sitting down with your calendar and list of assignments and specifically scheduling blocks of time to do major assignments, you have locked it into place in your life. You can know for certain when you will have time to do all of the things on your list instead of just trying to randomly find spare time to work on various projects. If you don’t schedule it in, it’s much easier for you to procrastinate and never get around to it. Scheduling things also gives you a deadline for when you should be done with your assignment. Deadlines will motivate you to get your work done in the period you have set aside for it. Additionally, self-set deadlines is an important skill to acquire before you venture out in to the real world.

Be the Early Bird

All of these steps may seem like taking very early steps in preparing for finals season, but I want to suggest that you take this idea a step further, especially with papers and projects. If you know that you have a paper due at the end of the semester, begin brainstorming for topics, ideas, and sources now, early in the month, so that when you actually sit down to write the paper, you have already saved yourself time.

Schedule meetings with your professors about paper and project topics early so that you already have the go-ahead. Additionally, if you ask for help from professors early in the month, you will have more time to track down the hints and helpful information that they may give you during your meeting with them. Your professors want you to make a good grade. Asking for help or a point in the right direction early will not only let them know that you’re on the ball but it will give you more time to use these suggestions in your final assignment.

Ultimately, starting projects and papers early will both help you stay organized and on top of your other things to do and will give you more time to produce a better final project or paper. And eat lots and lots of stuffing/sweet potatoes/everything else your mom makes.

Do you find any of these tips useful? What do you do during November to help you prepare for the end-of-the-year rush of finals? Let us know in the comments!

Fall is in full swing. The pumpkin spice lattes are a part of your daily ritual. You’ve broken in your new fall boots. You’ve given up that whole turning over a new leaf idea – you know, the one that involved getting your homework done on time. And hey, just in time for midterms too.

Mid semester exams are inevitable. And annoying. Just when you’ve started to think you could get away with not doing any of the reading for your classes and getting all of your notes online (from the comfort of your futon), midterms rear their ugly heads.

Essays?
Quotation identifications?

You are not prepared for this. Time for some serious studying, right? Not just yet, there are a few things you really need to do first….

10. Clean up. Wow your keyboard is really filthy. And your screen? How could you even see? This needs to be done now. Or you’ll never clean it. No time like the present, right? Where’s that Windex?

9. Did your phone just ring? Your BlackBerry just buzzed. That could be important. An e-mail from a professor? A question from a friend? You’re still waiting to hear back about that internship.  Just check… really quickly.

8. Check your Facebook. That text Sarah sent you said that McHottie hooked up with that girl from your bio class this weekend. But you’re not sure how reliable of a source she is. There have to be pictures if it happened right? Just scroll through the newsfeed. You won’t be able to concentrate until you know.

7. Make yourself a snack. You’re starving. You should probably eat something. Brain food. Like fish. No. But there’s a vending machine right down the hall. There’s bound to be something full of dark chocolate there. That’s good for you, isn’t it? And while we’re on the topic, wine’s a brain food these days too, right?

6. Visit your favorite websites. You just want to check your daily websites. College Candy. College Fashion. Texts From Last Night. The usual. It’s not your fault there’s so many awesome new articles up. It’s better you read them now before you really get into your work. Plus, you’ve been busy. You could use a break, really.

5. Oops! Forgot to check Twitter!

4. Watch your favorite show. Okay. So you can hear your roommate watching TV from the other room. You look at the clock. Yep. There’s a Kardashian marathon on. And, wait, is that the KHLOE AND LAMAR WEDDING?! What’s another hour (or 3)? It’s the wedding…and you’ve been PMSing…you could use a good cry. Let it all out, girlfriend.

3. Take up a new hobby. What’s that? Your boyfriend is watching baseball? Well, you’ve never really been a fan before, but these are the important games aren’t they? And it’s important to take an interest in things he enjoys. Maybe he could explain to you what’ going on as you watch…

2. Change your scenery. You know, with all these distractions, you really need to get out of the house. You’ll really get more done if you’re at the library. Just pack up your things and go…

1. Talk to a friend. Is that Melissa sitting over there by the computer? You haven’t seen her in days. It won’t hurt to say a quick hello. I mean, you don’t wanna be rude. It’s common courtesy, people. Just a little holler and then you’re on your way…

If you can find an empty table, that is.

What are your favorite ways to put off studying for midterms? Are you a professional procrastinator or do you get things done quickly?

….I think my preferred method is pretty obvious.

Got a special place in your heart for top 10 lists? We do and we’ve got some doozies.  Get ‘em all out right here.

You’ve spent the past 4 nights in the library flipping through your tattered notebook. You’ve highlighted and re-highlighted all the most important sections in the textbook. You’ve answered the sample review questions your T.A. gave out and the entire review packet distributed at the review session.

Hell, you went to the review session.

And now, on the eve before the big blue book exam, you feel ready to go. You’ve done everything you can and now it’s time to show that little blue book who’s boss.

Before you climb into bed at the ripe hour of 11 p.m., you pack your messenger bag with two blue books, 2 pens (in case one runs out of ink), a few pencils (in case that is what the teacher prefers), White-out, gum, tissues and a bag of Sour Patch Kids (for a post-exam celebration). You set your alarm and snuggle into your Twin XL to get the required 8 hours before the big day.

Except you only got 5 hours. The other three were spent staring at the ceiling freaking out.

“Oh God. This exam is 50% of my grade. 50! I can not eff this up. What is an example of Intrinsic Motivation? What are the symptoms of Multiple Personality Disorder?! Why am I still awake?!”

When your alarm goes off, you shoot out of bed and spend the duration of your shower/hair drying/getting dressed testing yourself just a little bit more. You flip through your notes one last time as you scarf down a bowl of cereal, then review them again on the way to the lecture hall.

You find your assigned seat, unpack your abundance of supplies and wait for the exam to begin. You’re feeling confident and ready, already planning what you’ll be drinking to celebrate when this nightmare is over.

In what seems like slow motion, the T.A.s begin walking through the hall, passing stacks of exams to the end of the rows. You wait as the students to the left of you take one and pass. Finally, you get the stack. The professor makes a few announcements, writes the time on the board in giant numbers and it begins.

You open the exam and review the questions.
And you have no freaking clue how to answer the first one…or the second. Then you read the third.  Panicking, you look around the room. Everyone else has already started writing.  You start to sweat.

Finally, you find a question you at least understand.  You draw up a little outline, figure out what you are going to say and begin writing.

Things start out well. You got a good thesis statement, your thoughts are organized and you are sort of excited to answer the question. Then your hand starts to hurt. You put your pen down and shake it out. When you begin writing again, your neck begins to hurt. You pause and stretch it left and right, making sure to keep your eyes closed so no one thinks you’re cheating.

You continue writing.

About halfway through your answer you realize you forgot one very important section. You debate crossing everything out and starting over but there is no time. Instead you leave a little footnote for the grader and hope he/she finds this little paragraph in the back before they slap a big red grade on the front. Not that they will be able to read it; by this time you are so bored with writing the exam that your writing has gone from legible to 7-year-old boy.

You hear someone changing the time on the chalkboard and look up to find many students packing their things and leaving. There are only 20 minutes left and you still have a ways to go. You rip through the rest of the answer, filling one entire blue book and a few pages of another. With what? You have no idea. Tired and sick of writing, you forgo reviewing your answer, pack your stuff and leave.

Your hand hurts, your neck hurts, your brain hurts…. and now all you can do is bust out those Sour Patch Kids. And wait for the grade.

Yeah, we’ve all been there. And we’ve got the staple marks on the side of our hands to prove it.

I mean seriously, I just cannot devote any of my (precious) time to appreciating teachers today. Sorry. Nope. Not gonna happen. Not when I’m  running on little to no sleep, am elbow-deep in research papers, and my blood caffeine content is higher than my average BAC on mug night. We stretch ourselves so thin trying to be perfect for teachers, studying so we can get an A, then promptly forgetting all the material. We really make the most of our education, don’t we!?

Nope. But at least there’s one professor, at one school, that knows what’s up.

According to Duke University’s Cathy Davidson, “I can’t think of a more meaningless, superficial, cynical way to evaluate learning than by assigning a grade. It turns learning into a crass competition: how do I snag the highest grade for the least amount of work? How do I give the prof what she wants so I can get the A that I need for med school? That’s the opposite of learning and curiosity, the opposite of everything I believe as a teacher, and is, quite frankly, a waste of my time and the students’ time.”

You go girl…er…woman!

Davidson, clearly fed up with the current college grading process, is turning grading over to the students. In doing so, she’s found that the students feel more motivated to complete the work, which is reviewed, discussed and critiqued by two student discussion leaders at each class meeting. Her process is clear: you do the work, you get the grade. Not happy with your work? You can go back revise, and- you guessed it- get the grade. Furthermore, students can be more of themselves in their writing, rather than the thesaurus-happy intellectuals they pretend to be when trying to please other professors.

And it’s working! Students are actually learning, as opposed to half-assing assignments in order to get a better grade.

Davidson’s method turns learning from a dictatorship to a democracy, letting students have a say in their classroom experience and changing the dynamic between teacher and student, and that’s something we can all appreciate.

Now I just wish my professors, for whom I haven’t slept in 3 days, would take the hint…

And, of course, studies show that women are at a higher risk for stress-induced eating and consequent weight gain. Blame it on cortisol – probably the suckiest hormone I’ve ever heard of. It’s a stress-related hormone that’s linked to weight gain (especially in your abs!). Cortisol also makes your metabolism slow down and increases your appetite. It ALSO leads to a tendency to consume high-fat foods. Ugh.

There are ways to avoid weight gain and unhealthy habits even when you’re scrambling to finish that paper at 4am the night before. What does a girl gotta do to stay healthy and avoid gaining weight during these super stressful times?

Build a support system.
Friends and family are there for you – feel free to vent! Unloading your stress and frustrations will keep you focused… and prevent you from stress-eating.

Snack smart.
Avoid sugar and caffeine. They’ll seem like a good choice… until you crash a few hours later! And when you’re making your 2am food run, keep healthy snacks closest (front of the cabinets and fridge) so that’s the first thing you see and grab. If you have time to cook, put food away right after you make it so you’re not mindlessly eating seconds and thirds while studying. Also, no matter what hours you keep during exam week, try to keep your eating schedule as close to normal as possible. Eating when you should be sleeping increase your chances of gaining weight.

Take breaks.
It’s been proven that exercise relieves stress, so do it! You don’t have to give up an hour to hit the gym, either. Try meditating and focusing on your breathing for 10-20 minutes. Play music, get out of your chair and dance between chapters. Or, now that the weather is starting to get nice, get outside and take a 10-minute walk. Simply moving around will ease your mind and make you feel better.

What are your healthy ways you cope with stress during finals?

Got some college questions? Unsure of a decision? Getting ready to head off to college?! (Lucky…) Just wanna chat it up with some really awesome chics? We’ve got the girls for you. Hit them up in the comments or shoot them an email with the subject “College Q&A”! They’ve got all the answers you need, no matter who you are.

Question:
I have been reading your advice for awhile now and I really like what you say. I’ve taken a lot of it in my own life. So here’s my question that maybe you can help with…. And don’t judge me for it, please. So finals are coming up and I really need to do well. I sorta slacked for the past couple of weeks and I need these tests to bring my grades up. My friend offered to give me some Adderall to help me with the studying. I am tempted to take it… I need all the help I can get… But I’m sorta scared? I dunno. Have you ever tried it? Would you do it?

Thanks,
Freaked About Failing

GPA Girl:
DO NOT take it! Look, it’s just not worth it. Adderall is a prescription medication for a reason, and if it were safe for everyone to take, it would be available over the counter. You don’t know how your body is going to react to it or what side effects it might produce in conjunction with any other medications you’re taking, and I worry about the risk of that for you. Additionally, you need to keep in mind that Adderall is not some kind of miracle drug. Even if you did take it and it was able to improve your concentration and alertness, it doesn’t have the power to magically tell you the answers on all the tests you’re going to take or whisper you steps for how to write the best papers. The only one who can do that is YOU. So make up for the time you slacked off by studying now, reviewing as much as you can, getting as much sleep as you can, and trying to relax. You’ll do just fine, and you’ll feel much better about yourself after finals are over than you would if you had taken the Adderall.

Party Girl:
No judgment on this side, for sure, so don’t worry about that! Adderall is one of those things that is a constant presence on any college campus. Some of my friends swear by it (I’m positive that they wouldn’t have survived most of their classes without it). I have tried it once, but I didn’t feel much of anything. In fact, the only effect I experienced was increased drunkenness when I celebrated finishing a 25-page paper at the bar. If I made it through all these years of drinking and cramming without Adderall, you can too. Just grab a cup of coffee/tea, all your books, and plant your ass at the library. It will add up to the same result, trust me. Good luck!

Busy Bee:
Thanks for being an avid follower of our column! Now, I want you to know that I understand how you feel. There are times in life when you may feel overwhelmed, tired, not motivated – the list goes on. Regardless, I am tempted to say that taking Adderall is not the best solution. After reading your question, I did some research on the drug effectiveness, side effects, and asked a few friends if they had any first hand experience.
As for whether or not the drug works, the answer is yes. Many credible websites claim that Adderall allows a person to be more focused and attentive. I do not doubt that taking this pill will let you get all of your studying and last minute papers done.

On the other hand, the side effects can include a loss of appetite, insomnia, headaches, fast-pounding heartbeat, diarrhea, and possible addiction. I know that this may be a one-time thing, but what if the next time you “slack off” you decide to take it again? And again? Adderall is also known as a Type II controlled substance, which means that it can lead to severe psychological and physical dependence if abused. Yes, this is an extreme case, but anything is possible.

I did ask a few acquaintances what they thought of Adderall and one of them mentioned that you will crash very heavily after it is all over. That’s just another physical and mental consequence you may have to endure. I don’t want to be the one to tell you that you will get bad karma from taking this drug, but I do want to be the one to give you these facts and my old fashioned advice. I know that you are tempted to resort to the easiest solution there is, but it’s in times like these that your actions matter most. I’m not saying that taking Adderall is in any way going to make you a bad person, but do you have enough willpower to make yourself focus?

If you decide not to take Adderall, I suggest working out or taking yoga to relieve any stress and to start new. The next step is just sitting down, envisioning your goal (in this case, it’s a passing grade) and getting to it. It’s not going to be easy, but it’s going to say a lot about your character and determination. Call me crazy for thinking about these things when all you want is a good grade and a job when you graduate, but in the long run, I think this is the most important thing to keep in mind. I strongly believe that you have it in you to get those grades, Adderall-free.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, people! For those of us who can’t pour one out for our favorite Saint (well, besides Reggie Bush) thanks to a full day of classes, we need a little something else to get us by. And what “something else” is better than some “Would You Rather”?

With exams, Spring Break and, of course, green beer on the mind, give a little thought to this situation:

Would you rather get guaranteed A’s on all your finals without having to study OR get a free week-long trip to the destination of your choice for Spring Break?

Things to Consider: your future, your bank account, your tan lines.