Outsmarting Procrastination

Procrastination: the most dangerous affliction to college students during finals week. Here are three ways to beat

the most common situations of academic postponement.

Problem 1: You’ve got 10 pages on some boring subject due in 24 hours, but chatting online or on the phone is just so much more interesting.

Solution: The only way to get your mind back on track is to somehow become engaged in your subject. Try

chatting about your paper topic, and explain to somebody else why what you’re writing about is important.

Problem 2: There’s a big test the next day and you haven’t studied a lick.

Solution: Have fun with it. Memorizing facts, dates and vocabulary will come easily if you can attach meaningful significance to the ideas. Try to relate every phrase with a relevant concept in your life, and they will be much more memorable, as well as approachable.

Problem 3: A big, time-consuming project is around the corner and motivation to begin is nowhere in sight.

Solution: Incentives are far more effective than punishment. Tell yourself your project will be so brilliant it deserves nothing less than your undivided attention. If that doesn’t work, make a bet with a doubtful friend that you will be able to produce a finished product on time. If working under pressure doesn’t drive you, then working out of spite will.

– Genevieve Diesing

Music

Studying for hours on end can take its toll on the mind and staring at a textbook can be stressful in itself. In order to help release some of that stress on the eyes, listen to music. It’s said listening to classical music as a baby can make a child smarter. Unfortunately, that doesn’t help anyone now, so listening to Mozart and J.S. Bach may not be the smartest idea in the world.

In order to make listening to music a success, the music selection requires crucial attention. Radio avoidance should be a key goal. Good songs can be found on the radio, but hearing commercials for local night clubs probably wouldn’t be very beneficial to helping you study. If you like listening to country music, then listen to country music. If you like to listen to the blues, then play it safe and listen to the blues. The point is, pick out the music you believe to be the most relaxing. No, that doesn’t mean go to the nearest music store and stock up on Enya albums. Look through your CD collection and pull out the music you find the most relaxing. The choices you make should not be difficult.After making your selections, pop those CDs into your CD player, and hopefully the less-stressed studying will begin.

– Matt Lee

Myths

According to some little-known bylaw in the campus constitution, should one’s roommate kick the bucket, the surviving student will receive an “A” in all their classes, as sort of an emotion compensation. But Ombudsman Tim Griffin debunked the loophole as a popular urban legend.

“In such an event, the student will receive many things from NIU free of charge, such as free counseling and free relocation,” Griffin said. “But one thing a student will not receive is grades he or she did not earn.”

According to Griffin, in addition to being the subject of the film, “Dead Man on Campus,” the urban myth was also the subject of an academic survey. Hundreds of universities nationwide were asked if such a bylaw existed in their constitution. None replied in the affirmative.

“The only secret is a good night’s sleep, a nice meal and of course, studying,” Griffin said.

The ombudsman warned of many true tales of misfortune plaguing students during finals. Often times, students adjusting their cell phones or sorting through their book bags, if only for another pen or more paper, are accused of cheating in exam situations.

– Richard Pulfer

State-Dependent Learning

You may be sitting at home cramming for you finals thinking there aren’t enough hours in the day to get it done. You begin to panic and suddenly the answer comes: amphetamines. Yes, a little speed never hurt anyone, right? Wrong. Rather than pretend to be your mom and get into a discussion about how drugs are bad and ruin your life, let’s discuss how they affect your education. There is a little known psychological concept called “state dependent learning.” State-dependent learning is the idea that if your normal brain chemistry is altered for a period of time, it will retain the information learned in that time period in such a way it can only be recovered when you have the same altered brain chemistry again. In short, if you’re all hopped up on caffeine pills while you study, there is a good chance you won’t remember what you studied until the next time you’re all hopped up on caffeine.

If you need an edge, you may want to try something a bit more natural, or make sure you don’t lose your buzz before the test.

– Brayton Cameron

Jolt Cola

Ever since Jolt Cola hit the college scene in 1985, at least one question has gotten easier during finals: what’s going to keep me awake?

With a whopping 100 milligrams of caffeine, compared to Coca Cola’s 35 milligrams and coffee’s typical 55 milligrams, Jolt has risen in popularity during its two decades on the market.

The Rochester, N.Y.-based company has since increased production of Jolt products to six-packs, five different flavors and a gum line. Two sticks of Jolt gum, in Spearmint and Icy mint, contain caffeine equal to a cup of coffee, without any of the acids, bathroom breaks, spills or teeth stains.

The Jolt Cola Company sent out 25,000 trial packs to U.S. military installments around the world, and the gum is available in most college towns. So one is faced with another important question during finals: Why settle for a useless or single-purpose gum? Be it the gum or the drink – which is now illegal in Australia – Jolt’s tag line, “All the sugar and twice the caffeine,” lives up to its unhealthy name and may just save your college career.

– David Rauch

Stress Busters

Study, take a test, study some more, take another test.

It’s a vicious, week-long cycle. What comes with finals week?

Stress, of course. How does one cope with the end of semester jitters? Forget about those squishy stress-buster bones your parents send you in the finals care package.

You need some down time. I always find it helpful to take a break and order some greasy goodness from one of DeKalb’s fine eateries with the roomies. You can chat about life in general, but not school. There shall be no shaking of the fists at that professor who gives impossible exams. Try to keep the conversation on the light side. This will clear your head, which will help the information sink in better, just as sleeping does, right?

Or is this just what we always tell ourselves to make us feel less guilty?

Either way, a break couldn’t hurt. After your late-night cravings are satisfied, you can hit the books recharged and ready to go. Finals aren’t the end of the world. At the very least, you’ll fail and have to sit through those boring lectures again, retake all the exams, and possibly be set back from graduating, resulting in spending even more money. See? That’s not so bad. So relax!

– Stephanie Szuda