Another semester is about to end. Most college students are excited to have a break and relax their minds from thinking about school stuff.
But wait! Before we think about what to do and where to spend our sem break, let us face first the pile of school works that is still before us. The last few days before vacation mean submission of requirements and passing long examinations. In short, it means pressure!
Finals week is approaching. Almost every teacher in each subject demands the class projects. There are lots of deadlines to meet.
For Kenmar Nogan, 2nd year Political Science, he feels super pressure because almost everyday they have a requirement to submit.
“Sometimes I can’t think clearly but I don’t want my pressure to control me,” he said. What he usually does is he thinks positively and starts to comply with each requirement.
Same thing applies to James Suico, 3rd year Aircraft Technology student. “I always tell myself that I can make it,” he said. After taking an exam, he assures himself that he got a high score.
During this time of the semester, most students tend to have a lack of sleep.
“I do feel pressured in my school works to the degree that I often do not sleep because I’m motivated to finish everything in time,” said Jo Edward Yecyec, 4th year Psychology student.
For Jennifer Pareja, a Mass Communication graduating and working student, she only has a maximum of five hours sleep a day. She attends to school, does practicum in the morning and works at night. For her, she finds pressure challenging.
“To handle school pressure, one must know how to balance his/her time well,” Pareja said. Also, one must have focus and a positive mind set.
For Rheachar Uriarte, a 4th year nursing student, she is pre-occupied with lots of things to do to the point that she becomes confused on what to do first.
“What I do, I prioritize things through identifying the most and the least important requirement, then step-by-step I do it,” she said. She sets goal and targets for specific subjects.
Like Uriarte, Candice Calvo, 3rd year nursing, also does first things first.
“Everyday I see to it that I accomplish something but not to the extent that I push myself too much in my school works,” Calvo said.
Amidst school pressures, she always finds time to enjoy and relax through movie marathon with pizza and sometimes through sports.
But for Uriarte, she hardly finds time to relax. “There are some things that I have to give up,” she said. Being a leader of a certain sorority, she sacrificed some of her obligations because studies should come first.
However, despite all the pressures that we face, we are still motivated to conquer and defeat it.
“Although having lots of requirements is tiring, still it is rewarding in the end,” cited Yecyec. He focuses all his cognitive capacity to be able to achieve better performance in school. “This is what we call the element of thrill in college life,” he added.
“I just always put in mind that I need to accomplish all the requirements for me to pass and to graduate the sooner,” said Calvo. Asking God for strength and wisdom is the most important element for her to succeed.
For Pareja and Uriarte, their family is their primary motivation to study hard.
“I aim to maintain my grades for the persons who sponsor my studies,” Pareja said, so that after she graduates she can help her family.