For some students, finals are a looming threat to their sanity, grade point averages and stress levels. Keeping this in mind, various NIU tutoring, multimedia and mentoring centers offer finals assistance to NIU students.

Ian Rogerson, a junior applied physics major, has plans to visit the DuSable Mathematics Assistance Center during finals week to help him prepare for his calculus final. The center’s teaching assistants help him learn complex calculus rules and problems, which will hopefully help him on his final, Rogerson said.

Hannon Hines, a junior business administration major, is taking a more methodical approach to studying for finals.

“I study for two hours, take a break and do something else and start up again,” he said.

History graduate student Lily Ann Villaraza has one simple technique for studying for finals.

“Coffee, coffee, coffee,” she said.

Places to study on campus

The Founders Memorial Library had extended hours for students to study for finals and was open until 2 a.m. Sunday night.

The library is a good place to study for finals because students can use one of the library’s private study rooms to have group study sessions, said Shawn Syed, a sophomore electrical engineering major and Founders Memorial Library student worker. Study rooms can be reserved by calling Jayne Crosby at 753-9843, Syed said.

The Latino Resource Center also offers space for study groups, said office manager Carrie Anderson. The center offers a computer lab with 12 computers that will be available from today until Thursday, Anderson said. The center is offering free coffee to students during finals week as well.

The Asian American Center will be a quiet zone during finals week, said Michelle Bringas, director of the Asian American Center. Every part of the center will have a spot where students can study, including the basement area, which will include printers and seven Internet-ready computers.

“We are trying to be responsive to students’ needs and provide a comfortable study environment for finals week,” Bringas said.

The Asian American Center will be open today until Thursday from 8 a.m. until midnight, and on Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Writing Help

Students seeking help with finals-related essays have several places to turn to, including the Stevenson Towers-based University Writing Center.

The UWC offers help for last-minute writing sessions and an objective point of view for a student’s paper, said UWC associate director Lynda Nance.

“Sometimes, a student reads and re-reads a paper many times, but still miss errors because they’re so familiar with the writing,” Nance said. “The center offers another perspective that can provide help and catch errors the student may have missed.”

The center will offer coffee and an assortment of snacks, Nance said. The center will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today through Thursday.

Another place students can go for help on finals-related essays is the Foreign Language Multimedia Learning and Training Center, which offers approximately 61 Internet-ready computers, some with screen-sharing capabilities and networking. Some students come to the center for help with their papers because some staff members offer paper-editing help, said Grant Olson, coordinator of instructional technology of the Foreign Language Multimedia Learning and Training Center.

The center also offers multiple books, videos and even TV stations in all of the center’s supported languages. The center will be open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today until Thursday, Dec. 8 and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9.