<p>I heard that libraries are extremely packed and it's common for people to actually dwell in the libraries come finals week. As a high-schooler, I can only speak for HS finals, so I'm curious to hear what generally happens in my not-so-distant future.</p>
<p>I’m sure it all depends on the course/professor but generally, like most things in college they’re pretty tough. You pray that the curve will be your best friend and in some cases it can be pretty extreme. A friend of mine told me that the Calc 2 final here (at NYu) has a 30% curved up to a 70, he might have beenexaggerating a bit but its along thise lines. But just generally speaking, in my experience (even coming from what is considered a pretty rigorous high school), college finals are no walk in the park.</p>
<p>And yes, you’re right about the library, you have to consider yourself lucky if you can find any open seats/tables finals week and the week before.</p>
<p>Finals week and/or dead week = generally speaking, a time period in which many college students wonder if they should have taken out stock in Red Bull, Monster, Starbucks, 5 hour energy, and the company that produces Adderall</p>
<p>I also know people (I never did this, luckily) who have slept in the library. Like brought a pillow and took 30 minute cat naps throughout the night</p>
<p>They actually brought in “therapy dogs” to our undergrad library, as well as free coffee and food. I don’t remember ever seeing anyone in high school go to a library to study or do anything productive, so it’s not really comparable.</p>
<p>HS finals are a joke compared to college finals. I spent everyday and all day during finals week. I would come in around 11am and leave 7 or 8pm. Then I would go to my apartment, eat dinner, and then study till midnight or 1. During dead week I just studied a few hours (3-4) a day for finals. You may know the material but professors think they’re funny and like to throw some question you’ve never seen before. But curves are also very nice. Last year I got a 45% on a calc 2 exam and with the curve it was a 72%, not exaggerating either.</p>
<p>Plain and simple, finals week SUCKS. You get little sleep, you eat **** ton of food, have high stress and you gain a lot of weight. Whatever you do, DON’T do all-nighters. I did that last year, went to go to my managerial accounting final and yacked all over the exam room. I am now an example in that class. My prof always mentions that to her students now.</p>
<p>I got a question. Why do you go to library? Isn’t there plenty of places to study?</p>
<p>Generally, the library is quiet (during finals week, my school’s library is quiet hours the whole time it’s open on every floor). Also, you’re not tempted to fall asleep, like you would if you were on your bed, or goof off with friends.</p>
<p>It can also help to get a change of scene to get in the studying mood.</p>
<p>I would study in my room but I’ll fall asleep and my roommates are always up to something and it’s damn distracting. The library is nice and quiet. Everyone is studying and no distractions.</p>
<p>I usually like to study with others so a library is a good place to meet up and depending on the library and time of day there might be open computers. It can also be very distracting to work at home. </p>
<p>Between 8pm-1am usually is too crowded though, at least the 2 main libraries where I go. </p>
<p>At my school they bring in those therapy dogs, usually pass out some free food like oatmeal or fruit periodically in the libraries, sometimes there’s free coffee around but it tends to go quick when they have it.</p>
<p>Thankfully mine weren’t very hard - difficulty about the same as high school but more material. I think it depends on your college though and your courses… I am in first year so I will have to see how much harder it gets.</p>
<p>College finals are a whole different ballgame. I ace my HS finals even without studying, but that will change next year. Though, I may enjoy the college library atmosphere. The library at my school is a complete joke, there are kids everywhere talking at the top of their lungs, which makes it impossible to find a quiet study area in that place.</p>
<p>I don’t think they are harder necessarily than, say, AP classes (depends on the class and professor) but they count for a much higher percent of your grade, which is really stressful. Also professors are less lenient on grading than high school teachers (e.g. if you mess up the first part of a complex problem but get everything else right, a college prof is less likely to give you partial credit), so there’s stress to do everything perfectly.</p>
<p>My chemistry and physics finals were significantly easier than AP chemistry and ap physics finals (I took Chemistry I and Physics I this semester).</p>