Anxiety is rising and parties are being passed up for study time as students prepare for final exams this week at Iowa Central Community College. The final exams start Tuesday and the college will keep its library doors open until midnight during finals to accommodate the students' increased study needs.
On Sunday afternoon, the library was full of students completing their last few course assignments and cramming for the final exams.
"I had people waiting at the door when I got here," said Kevin Thompson, a librarian at Iowa Central. "We'll be pretty much full all day."
Though most of the students are optimistic about the upcoming exams, many said they are nervous and knew at least one person who had withdrawn from a class or dropped out all together.
"The majority of my classmates are pretty panicked about it," said Corey Crosby, a third-year Iowa Central nursing student. "The nursing program is pretty steep. In the first year we had like forty people in each class and now we've kind of dwindled down to 20 to 25 people in each class. People do drop out quite a bit."
For Crosby, a full-time student with a full-time job, finding time to study is a challenge in and of itself.
"I try to take advantage of what time I have when I have it," Crosby said. "Our clinicals are sometimes 20 to 60 miles away. We had to drive to Iowa Falls and on the car ride there I'd use my tape recorder to play back lecture tapes. You just have to be opportunistic and do what you can when you can."
Often having study time means making time, even when that means giving up the party lifestyle for awhile.
"I've had to kind of calm it down this week. I study as much as I can with all my free time," said Grey Barner, an Iowa Central student who hasn't yet declared a major.
"Wednesday we were in the library instead of going out," said Nick Reding, of himself and fellow student Zeke Schroeder, both Iowa Central business students.
"We've been in the library every day last week," Schroeder said.
Combating stress is one of the biggest challenges many students face, sometimes even costing them a lower score on test day. A few students in the Iowa Central library took a break from studying to offer their advice on dealing with stress. Incidentally, the most common piece of advice given was to take a break.
"Just study a little bit at a time, don't try to overdo it," said Reding, who has enrolled in 17 credit hours and is kicking off finals with three exams his first day.
Barner added, "I just relax and watch TV or something and try not to think about it."
Though Crosby doesn't find much spare time in his jam-packed schedule, he did find a stress-reliever in a camera he bought a year ago.
"Photography's my hobby," Crosby said. "I'll go out and about and just try to get away from things and take some photos. That'll be my detachment from reality for a little while."
Contact Ian Schmit at (515) 573-2141 or ischmit@messengernews.net
