I Did It! I Promise!

(photo copyrighted by DeviantArt. original image at http://fc10.deviantart.com/fs12/i/2006/302/c/3/The_arch_again_by_mahleu.jpg)

Wake up at 9, only to find out that you have a Tut exercise to do for 10, or get back to Res after supper and discover through one of your friends that you have a 2000-word essay due for the next day. I’m pretty sure most of us have experienced something along those lines. The question is; what makes students at Rhodes (namely First Years) end up doing work last-minute or the day before? From personal experience, it just seems to happen – things get a bit out of control, and before you realise it, you’re staying up until 5am trying to finish an essay that was meant to have been done over three weeks. Some people try to reason that they “work better under pressure” or “had other work to do”, but we all know how it goes. All subjects have essays or projects, and we have all, at some point fallen victim to the unavoidable last-minute assignment. I, like many others have learnt the hard way, that this isn’t always the best option – especially when there is more than one assignment due for that one day. Lecturers complain about students doing work sloppily and the day before, tutors comment on students not preparing for tuts, and students believe that the workload is far too much. This issue affects all sides involved – and is more common than we think. Most of the time, its due to a late night before (whether it be partying until the early hours of the morning, watching series or movies until the sun rises, or naps somewhere), an innocent “lapse of memory”, or a genuine LOA-worthy excuse which lead to work being handed in late or just on time, and being “slack”. What many people don’t realise is that this problem has existed for much longer than any of us have been at varsity, and happens in probably every single university. I believe that its part of finding our feet as students, and that it’s an element of what university is and the life experience that we gain through coming to varsity. Pressure builds up students, and especially around the time of exams (like the one we are approaching now) people tend to become more forgetful and affected by the stress. And this in turn also leads to more sleepless nights and last-minute work. It is without a doubt, not easy to find a balance of when to do work, and when there is still space to put it off. I think it’s a learning curve that we all experience at some point, and only through the experience we gain from it, can we overcome it. In my opinion, the ever-present distant assignment is something we (as students) will never be without, and we need to get used to it. Getting in “The Zone” is quite tough, especially when it’s a Wednesday, and you know that at that very moment some of your friends are probably jamming under the air-con at Friar’s. But trust me, getting annoyed or irritated about the matter will only make it harder to deal with as a whole – I think its best to just play the deadline game, and try and get as much work done before its due date as possible. Not only does that clear the conscience, but it also means more sleep, and more time to do what Rhodents do best: party!

Good luck,
Nev