College Life
To Study, or Not to Study—That is the Question
By Lia Whisler
December 2008/January 2009
You are not really sure how, but one way or another, the 13-ish weeks that are (were) fall semester seem to have passed you by. All those all-nighters you spent in the dining hall slaving over problem sets and papers just hours before they were due are now well behind you. And while you eagerly awaited the holidays that lightly sprinkled this semester, the truth is they were either spent traveling or partying, neither of which did all that much to diminish the sleep debt you owe your body. So finally, the time has come to take a nice long break to sleep, recuperate, and forget all the worries of first semester.
Well, that is, forget all the worries except for the fact that whether you want to face it or not, you will have to come back to exams in January. And that, of course, begs the question of whether you should be studying over break in the first place. It seems that Harvard would answer "no" to that question, as is evident by only giving us approximately 11 days of winter break while supplying us with two weeks of reading period. However, granted all the effort (read: no effort) you put into your classes during the semester, we could all probably use a little extra study time.
If there is one thing the holidays most certainly bring, it's long hours on some sort of metal machine that takes you from one place to another, a.k.a. travel time. And that leaves you ample time to catch up on all that reading that seemed to just take second priority to formal dress shopping. While it is probably not a good idea to lug each of your 20 lb. books home, you may want to bring at least one or two in the courses you need to do the most work in. That way, if you only got the chance to read a chapter or two in that one book, you won't feel bad for having left others you would have left untouched.
Since you will actually want to take a break during winter break, you probably won't have that much time to devote to studying anyways. But there is no reason you can't make a plan of how you want to tackle studying when you get back to campus. Make a list of all the chapters and lecture slides you will need to review for each class, as well as the approximate amount of time you think it will take to complete each task. Then, mark on a calendar when your exam is for each class and work backwards to make sure you have ample time to complete the plan you set up for yourself. But make sure not to cut it too close—you may have underestimated the time you thought it would take to review for a class, so always leave at least one day in-between when you think you will finish your studying and when your exam is. Hey, if you end up finishing early, you can either get ahead for another class or just simply relax and de-stress before your final. That's most likely a better option than running out of time to study!
If you make your plan and find that there is no possible way to finish all of your studying during reading period, then maybe you should do a little bit more work during break. But instead of letting that ruin your vacation, plan out specific days or specific hours during a day to study. That way, you can plan your schedule around your study time and you won't miss out on opportunities to catch up with old friends while still having ample time to get your work done.
Whatever your plan is over winter break, don't forget that it is supposed to be a break and you are supposed to relax. So don't let the idea of finals in January get you down! If all else fails, just remember that this will be the last time you will have to worry about work during winter break…Thank you calendar reform!
