The end of the semester is fast approaching, and like any proper college, the end-of-semester panic is beginning to settle over the student body. The midterm marathon may be over, but now we’ve all been dropped into a mad dash for the finish line as finals loom ever closer. Left and right, students are realizing that they’ve somehow been putting off studying since before spring break, and that their early semester dedication to being organized and doing all their homework as soon as it’s assigned has long since worn off. The dread sets in, followed by the jitters of anxiety. This is it, this is the end, and we’re all going to die.
Maybe that’s a tad dramatic. But more seriously, that last stretch of the semester is hellish for everyone. We’re all tired and convinced that if we can just get over the next hurdle we’re home free, except the hurdles keep multiplying at the last second. The work just keeps piling on, and every passing week feels more and more overwhelming. Take it from a reformed girlfailure: if you take a Claritin 30 minutes before you start crying, you, too, can prevent a sinus headache. What? Were you expecting actually useful advice? Are you doubting the effectiveness of my wisdom? Fine, OK, here goes the actual advice: take a deep breath. Now look at why you’re feeling overwhelmed. Yes, it’s scary and awful and wrong and feels like it will probably kill you. You have to take a good look at it anyway. It’s the only path forward, and I’m afraid this is one of those “do it scared” situations.
You have to break the big scary thing into its smaller but equally scary components. End-of-semester anxiety can occur for many reasons — really think about what’s scary. Do you have too many deadlines too close together? Are you now realizing you’re completely lost when it comes to your classes, and don’t even know where to start studying in order to catch up? Are you confused about what an important assignment is even asking of you? Are you not even sure what you have due soon, and are stuck in a perpetual cycle of putting out fires only minutes before they consume what’s left of your sanity (hi, hello, this is me)? Are you just too anxious to move, and are now stuck in perpetual inertia?
A different person would say that now is the perfect time to get organized, and pull out the sticky notes and highlighters and planners and bullet journals and overly complicated to-do lists. Maybe you should organize your desk, or clean your room, or do your laundry. Not me. I’m here to tell you that advice is bullsh*t. Let’s be realistic: you’re not going to learn time management and executive functioning skills overnight. It might have been good advice at the very start of term, but you have, like, three weeks. There are more pressing things to worry about. You will probably just use all of these things you’re “supposed” to do as an excuse to procrastinate instead. I’m not saying it’s completely useless, but if you’ve been racked with anxiety and are already putting things off, the excessive Googling into how to stop procrastination is, itself, also procrastination. It’s a way to temporarily attenuate the anxiety with the assurance that you’re doing something productive, without actually having to be productive.
Let’s get into the actual things you should probably be doing if you’re struggling right now. Now that you’ve identified what exactly has you freaked out, here are some campus resources that can help you get through it.
If the material you’re going over in class isn’t quite clicking, your best bet is probably going to tutoring. Ideally, you’d at least have an idea of which topics you’re struggling with, but don’t let feeling like you’re completely lost be what stops you from getting help. Tutors are often very skilled in learning how to identify what exactly a student is struggling with, even if the student doesn’t know how to verbalize it yet. If the university has hired a tutor for this class or subject, it’s because lots of people struggle with it. They’ve seen a whole lot of people with the same or similar doubts as you already. Additionally, tutors are paid for their time helping you; so, really, by going to tutoring you’re increasing their job security.
For tutoring to be most effective, try going as soon as you feel like you’re not quite grasping something correctly. The second-best time after that is now, while there’s still a few weeks left until finals. Remember that, especially if there’s a lot of ground to cover, one tutoring session alone might not be enough. Tutors can be a godsend, but they’re not miracle workers! They can’t package two months of classes into a single one-hour long session. It’s best to start scheduling it a few weeks in advance so that you have the chance to cover the material at a slower, more natural pace, and have more time to absorb what you’re learning.
You’re probably familiar with el Centro de Recursos de Investigación Interdisciplinaria y Aprendizaje Subgraduado, better known by IUPI students as CRiiAS. You’re also probably aware of their natural sciences tutoring courses. However, they also offer tutoring for courses offered by other colleges, such as Statistics (as is taught by the College of Social Sciences), English, and Spanish. Additionally, they offer essay writing workshops several times a semester, as well as general content reviews before tests. While I haven’t personally visited myself, I know several people who passed their classes because of the CRiiAS tutoring services.
However, did you know that there’s actually a different center on campus that offers tutoring programs? The Center for the Development of Linguistic Competency, or CDCL by its Spanish initials, works to help students improve their writing, reading, and oral communication skills in both English and Spanish. Working primarily in a one-on-one tutoring model, the CDCL is an excellent resource for students who want to learn how to write a college-level essay, or who want the peace of mind of getting a second set of eyes on their academic writing.
Additionally, the CDCL website contains a series of modules designed to help students grasp the basic concepts that college classes build on. If you’ve found yourself confused by your professor referring to certain concepts you were never taught, this is a fantastic resource to fill that knowledge gap. It covers grammar, techniques for analyzing a piece of writing, and strategies for writing a good paper. Overall, it’s a fantastic resource to consult, especially since it acts as a sort of standardized database of the definitions language professors here at UPR use during their classes. Yes, it’s extra work, but the modules are very short and the 20 minutes spent on strengthening the fundamentals you need to succeed will be far shorter than the time you will spend puzzling through terms you’re not familiar with. Another upside is that it’s far less daunting and much more flexible than going to tutoring; although of course, it can only function as a supplement for learning.
Despite all its wonders, there’s only so much that the tutoring services offered by the university can do. A tutor can help you figure out how to do your math homework or help you polish your essay, but what happens when you need help with the part that comes before doing the work? Having to relearn how to carry out academic research can be one of the most intimidating parts of the high school-to-college transition, as what counts as an academic source in a 10th-grade science class is very different from what you’ll be asked for in a college history class. On the surface, the concept seems simple: you just look up information related to whatever topic it is you’re covering. However, finding a single academic source, not to mention over 10 of them, turns out to be a lot harder than it might seem at first glance. What’s worse is that most professors will never explain this change in expectations to students, or if they do, they will usually not go over how to do academic research in detail. At most, you’ll get a vague overview: look for things that are “peer-reviewed,” or some from a “journal,” or which follow the “scientific process.” If you don’t already know what these terms mean, they are essentially useless.
So, how are you expected to learn this stuff on your own? The answer is simple: you go to the library. Nowadays, with the advent of the internet, libraries have been relegated to places where you go to do your homework or print out some papers. However, this is a massive underestimation of the sheer amount of services libraries offer. Before computers were a thing, it was expected that any and all research would be carried out within a library. If freshmen were wandering around looking confused, a librarian would quickly swoop in to explain how the different books and journals were classified, and how to best look up the information you needed. From finding books to checking them out, practically every step would require some amount of contact with a librarian or library assistant. This allowed for a passive exchange of knowledge to take place. Today, though, the interactions the average library goer has with their librarians are usually limited to asking for directions or letting them know the printer ran out of paper. When was the last time you even checked out an actual, physical book, instead of just taking pictures with your phone? As a result, what was once a gradual process of learning has now almost vanished from the undergraduate ecosystem.
Luckily for you, dear reader, librarians are still very much around and providing much of the same services they did decades ago. Of course, the role has evolved a lot, but the core idea of being there to help patrons learn how to learn has remained.
You may be shocked to learn just how many resources are offered through the UPR library system. Not only can you gain access to the massive university catalogue, which includes subscriptions to a wide variety of online databases and journals, but librarians are also available to teach you how to use these tools yourself. On their site, you can find the list of the tutorials they offer upon request. Librarians can give in-depth explanations on how to most efficiently use the library catalogue, help guide you through choosing which databases would be most effective to conduct your search within, show you how to navigate style manuals like APA and MLA, and teach you how to identify whether a source is good or bad. These lessons are carried out on an individual basis, either in person or online.
The process is very simple; you just need to ask politely. The specific program that deals with these requests is called PICIC, and it’s currently run by María Ledesma. You can go ahead and email them at picic.sb@upr.edu to coordinate a meeting.
But imagine for a moment that you don’t need that much help. You know how to carry out research; but, for some reason or another, you’re currently stuck trying to find a specific reference, or would like some quick guidance on some subfield-specific nuance you’re not familiar with. The library system has an easy answer to that as well. During a conversation I had a few months ago with one of the librarians, he lamented that almost no one seemed to use the chat feature provided through the library website. “What? A chat feature?” you may be asking, “there’s a chat feature?” Why yes. The library has a chat feature, located on the bottom right corner of their website, that will attempt to match you with a librarian who specializes in the field you’re researching. These chats are quick and completely online, meaning you don’t even have to be on campus to be able to talk to a librarian. The only downside is, of course, that it’s only available during working hours. Still, it’s a very convenient little tool for when you only have a small inquiry to make. And, you can do it from your bed. I’m pro anything that allows you to be productive while laying down.
When you’re falling behind in class, seeking out tutoring and other such resources is always a good idea. However, there is one last underrated resource that I feel is actually the most important: your professor. Very often, we get so caught up in the challenging parts of a class that we completely forget that there’s another person on the other side.
See, the thing about professors is that they’re human too. They’re also equally as stressed and overwhelmed as you are, except that they have been doing the whole semester rollercoaster thing way longer than you. Believe it or not, they get it. They know it’s hard and frustrating and how sometimes things just blow up in our faces. Sometimes, the best thing to do is just communicate clearly where and why you’re struggling. Remember, professors only know what they can clearly observe, and from the outside, an indifferent and uncaring student can look almost identical to one that’s having a difficult time and keeping quiet about it. If your professor knows you’re having a hard time, they have a lot of ways of helping you get back on track. These are people who have dedicated their whole lives to academia. In the vast, vast majority of cases, they want you to succeed.
I know that telling a professor you’re not understanding the material is hard. It can be really terrifying to admit you’re struggling, especially when professors just feel like these big important figures of authority. You might be afraid they’ll think badly of you, or that you’ll waste their time. I also know that if you have these worries, it might not be easy to just trust me on what I’m saying. So, to try and get a different perspective on this issue, I asked Dr. Mayra Velez Serrano to weigh in on this matter as well. Dr. Velez Serrano is the current director of the Political Science Department here at the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras, and thus, has extensive experience dealing with student catastrophes.
First off, I asked her what advice she would give to students who are scared of wasting their professor’s time or looking stupid for asking questions.
She responded: “I understand, because I was like that as well when I was a student. I always thought I couldn’t ask for two reasons: one, as a student, you were supposed to already know the answer, and I thought professors would look down on me because of that. And two, looking at it from a different direction, I thought it would give me an advantage to ask questions when other students didn’t have the opportunity, and it just wouldn’t be fair. It wasn’t until I became a professor that I realized that no, it wasn’t like that at all, and professors are there to help us and clarify doubts.”
She continues, emphasizing the importance of attending office hours: “Every professor is supposed to dedicate an hour and a half per class to answering student questions during office hours. It’s part of the UPR’s rulebook… We as students don’t take advantage of that rule and structure where yes, you can ask questions during class, but also during office hours. Another thing is that we’re not only obligated to provide these hours, but we like it: every professor, no matter how strict, likes providing that extra help. Sometimes as a student you don’t realize it, but we like helping, and you have to think — academics don’t teach classes for the money. Being a professor doesn’t pay very much compared to the years of study required to get there, so we do it because we enjoy it when students learn, when we can provide that space for growth.”
So there you have it, folks. Turns out, institutions created on the idea that scholarship is an incredibly important facet of humanity and that knowledge should be shared and distributed to as many people as possible are staffed by people who are actually happy when students are actively learning! Who knew! But no, for real, you have to remember that most professors are, at their core, someone who loves a subject so much they subjected themselves to a whole PhD about it. When you’re that passionate about something, it’s only natural that you want to share that passion with others. Astrophysics, international relations, or an incredibly specific literary movement that spanned a grand total of three English towns in the mid-17th century is someone’s Magic: The Gathering. Showing that you’re curious about their field of study and that you’re genuinely willing to improve goes a long way in a professor’s eyes.
School is scary. Very scary. It’s difficult and frustrating and can often make you feel like your life is falling apart. And yet, it’s still a place designed for us to be able to navigate. Anxiety is very good at making you feel like you’re the only person in the world, but know that hundreds of us have walked this same path before. Most of us even made it out the other side (mostly) unscathed. If we were meant to do it alone, university life would be getting locked up in a cave with a bunch of dusty old books to figure it out on our own, but it’s not, so just take the help when you need it, ok? We can get through this together.