While I would have loved to finish my Ye Olde TSL tenure with a truly revelatory find, I have too much essay-writing left to spend hours in TSL’s archives this week. So, from 1926, here’s a humorous look at how our professors prepare for the finals we dread.
EXAM TREMORS RECORDED
May 28, 1926
“ALL IN THE WAY YOU LOOK AT IT” WRITES CAMPUS OBSERVER OF PRE-FINAL MENTAL STATES OF COLLEGE PEOPLE IN REPORT TO STUDENT LIFE
I.
He rubbed his eyes. Oh yes, my econ. exam today. He leaned over to see what time it was. 7:30! Well, another nap would help. He turned over sleepily. What should he do that afternoon? Perhaps a game of golf. That would set him up for a good date in the evening. Oh——, he’d have to dress and go over for a three hour session with econ! But then, it was exam week, and there were no lessons to prepare! Long live exams! he bellowed as he leaped out of bed at 10 minutes to 8. He was a young professor!
II.
The alarm buzzed. Four o’clock already! Two hours of sleep didn’t help much. Could he cram enough to get through that three hour nightmare with econ? He dragged himself out of bed into the chill of early morning, trying to forget his headache and protesting stomach. The relation between value and price, what in ——— was it anyhow? Then those laws of supply and demand. After four hectic hours of feverish memorizing, he dashed out the door—a mental and physical wreck. For he was a student.
–Compiled (for the final time—it’s been fun!) by Sam McLaughlin PO ’16