Horror stories from finals week

Gabriella Pinos/Assistant Entertainment Director

It was 8 p.m. on a Sunday, and Karen Regalado had yet to start her 10-page final essay due the next day.

An international relations major at the time, Regalado had been studying for four written finals the week prior. On the Sunday after her last test, she realized she had not completed the 10- to 15-page paper for her American Foreign Policy class. The deadline: Monday at 1 p.m.

“I made myself some coffee – it was tea I think, actually – and I just [said,] ‘I got to do this,’” said Regalado.

Regalado pulled up the PowerPoint and thesis statement she had created during the semester for her final. Scanning the information, she began transcribing her essay.

“It was just, go through the PowerPoint, go through everything I had done already during the semester, put it down on paper,” said Regalado.

After hours of typing and sipping tea, Regalado finished her essay at 1:15 a.m., a good 12 hours before the final deadline. She could finally relax.

But for her, the panic and pressure did not come from writing the essay itself.

“I’m really fast at writing. But honestly, it wasn’t the fact about writing it, it was just the fact that I had forgotten about it. That was what scared me, because I never forget things like that,” said Regalado.

Likewise, Gwyneth Monterroso, a sophomore and international relations major, was not used to forgetting important deadlines. When she was told she accidentally skipped her French I final, she started to panic.

“…my friend from my French class texted me like, ‘Hey, where are you? Why did you miss the test?’ And then my heart dropped, and I literally started tearing up and I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I was literally freaking the hell out,” said Monterroso.

Monterroso had been studying for her French exam when she received the dreaded message. As soon as she read it, she dropped everything and contacted her professor, concerned that she would be unable to retake the final.

“I emailed my professor and I was like, ‘Listen, I freaked out and I didn’t come to class. I swear to God that I thought it was on Thursday. You know me as a good student and I would never miss on purpose. In fact, I was even studying for my test right now,’” said Monterroso.

Luckily, Monterroso was able to take the exam that Thursday. The event still sends chills down her spine to this day.

“Just talking about it gives me a little anxiety,” said Monterroso.

For Regalado, now a senior and a broadcast media major, nearly forgetting her final is now a thing of the past. However, she did learn something from the experience.

“It made me a better writer, for sure,” said Regalado.

Good luck on your finals, FIU!

Photo by Ben Mullins on Unsplash.

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