When I was in college, this was a tough time of the year. Finals exams. The mere mention of the word still brings up tightness and and pressure in my stomach. The challenge wasn’t any one exam, it was the gauntlet of having four or five exams all within a few days of each other. And, they always seemed to matter.
With that as the background, I can’t help but think of my son and other students cramming for final exams. My son’s start this coming week and I know other students who have them from now until June. I hope they can keep these quotes in mind as they face the struggles coming their way.
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Writing from the Heart with Brian 
What a timely message for me as I enter my monthly busy-week of gotta-do’s. I’m going for Hemingway’s approach—grace under pressure. Thanks, Brian!
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Oh, you’ve got this Julia! The “gotta-do’s” have nothing on you. Yes, a good one: grace under pressure.
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Forgot to mention — best to your exam takers! I hope it all goes well for them! 🙏
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My son seems pretty confident. He’s doing his best — that’s all I can ask for. Thank you so much Julia
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My daughter has four papers….except for her capstone I think she feels good. Yesterday they had university day where hopefully she blew off a little steam…as I saw some of the picks I think mission accomplished
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Ooh, that’s a tough one. Four papers, wow. One or two okay, but four, that’s a lot of writing. You always ask good questions in your blog, here’s one for you. Which would you prefer four long academic papers (lots of research and citing, etc) or four traditional final exams? I’m a writer, so I would probably choose the papers, but that’s a lot of work and I remember being envious of peers who could simply take a test and be done with it. Ha, ha. Anyway, good luck to your daughter.
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I’m not a good memorizer of facts, so tests don’t suit me. I’d be much better off with papers. I think for her, after writing an 80 page thesis, this other stuff is easy…😆
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Good luck to your daughter, LA
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Thank you!
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These are all wonderful reminders, Brian! Good luck to your son with the coming exams!
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Yes, looking forward to picking him up this week and hearing how he did.
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Wonderful, encouraging words — for students and humans of all sorts! Thank you for the Saturday morning booster shots, Brian! 😊😊😊
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I love that Vicki, Saturday morning booster shots. ❤️❤️❤️😎😎😎😎😎
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One of your specialties — Wynne, too! xo! 🥰
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☀️☀️☀️😎😎😎😎
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Good luck to your son,Brian, and everyone else sitting exams. I always got so nervous when my students are sitting their exams. It is such a stressful time for them. So much expectation on what they can do in a couple of hours
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You got it. You’re so right, it comes down to expectations. My son is always surprised because I don’t ask about grades, I try to simply ask if he felt like he did his best. He’s so hard on himself. Such a stressful time.
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The Jacoby quote is so appropriate Brian- we (me) often stress ourselves out more than anything or anyone else. Learning to manage that is key 🙂
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😎😎😎😎
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Good luck to your son, Brian! And thanks for the inspiring quotes to start the day. 🙂
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😎😎😎😎☀️☀️☀️
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A stressful experience and time of year for many. Best wishes to everyone facing exams. I don’t miss grading endless senior papers!
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Great stuff.
And this is why I liked being an English Major – few final exams. Mostly you’d just get a final big essay for the class and we’d skip finals day.
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I never went beyond high school on purpose. School was very unpleasant…
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Thanks for these inspirational quotes! Good luck to your son. I’m sure he’ll do very well. I have high school students working on their Associate’s degree. Unfortunately, in the spring semester, they have to take college finals (for any dual credit classes) and then a high school final for classes they can’t exempt (juniors can exempt 3). It’s ridiculous that they have to take 2 finals! Let’s just say we’ve found a loophole that works best for students when it comes to the high school final. We have to keep not in the cave, though! 🤗
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Aww, that sounds tough. Good for your students though. My son had a good friend who did that. When she graduated high school, she graduated with her associates too. It’s hard, but well worth it. Good luck with the finals.
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I’m amazed by these students. They work so hard! Thanks, Brian. We start the college final tomorrow. It’s English, so we made it into a presentation and they have the week to work on it, so hopefully it’s not too stressful 👍
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It’s hard, but remind them they’ll thank themselves later. I tried to convince my son to do it. He took AP classes, but I couldn’t get him to do the dual enrollment. His friend, while technically a freshmen, will have a much easier road to getting her bachelor’s degree. Sending good thoughts!
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