Exams are here. If you’ve attended most classes and engaged with the course in some meaningful way throughout semester you are going to be fine! Whether you’re the most prepared law student or you still have some study left to do, it’s likely that you’re feeling a bit stressed out. You may be surprised as to why. Don’t look now but the Stress Merchant is lurking behind you in the library!
Who is the Stress Merchant?
The Stress Merchant is a student who usually attends class but spends it playing Facebook games or shopping online. They might do work here and there during semester but when it hits exam time, it’s their time to shine. With weeks or days left to make up for their lack of effort this semester, the Stress Merchant’s anxiety is contagious… and they like to share it around. Be on the lookout for:
The Psych Out!
The Stress Merchant is best known for creating unrest by asking questions about material never covered in class. When the Stress Merchant starts to freak out about their lack of notes they crazily flick through the textbook to summarise each chapter. Invariably they’ve missed the class announcement where the lecturer said “skip this chapter because it is not covered in this course,” but the Stress Merchant will go around asking people whether the know about this topic. Don’t be fooled! You know your stuff!
Sharing is Caring
As a shortcut to learning whole subjects in the days before an exam, the Stress Merchant will often convene a study group for the purpose of summarising the textbook and sharing notes. There are non-Stress Merchant study groups out there, but if you find yourself answering tons of emails about topics and cases that were never covered, you may have stumbled into Stress-Merchant territory.
Facebook Activity
If you’re reading this it’s likely that you are multi-tasking with a bit of Facebook on the side (or watching the latest episode of Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad). Chances are that you’re seeing a lot more Facebook notifications than usual. Much of this is just part of the plague of procrastination that hits around exams, but keep an eye out for Stress Merchant question asking across every law related Facebook group. If you're prepared for the exam, the worst thing you can do is read the lengthy Facebook conversations about topics you’ve already studied (or perhaps never even heard of) – you’ll only end up confused!
Best wishes to everyone for your exams, now back to work!
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