Brian Smith faces repetition each year. Instead of balancing his time with classes, work and socializing throughout the semester, he tends to cram all his class work into the last week of class.

Smith, a junior in psychology from Saint Francisville, promises himself each semester that he will not repeat putting off a strenuous workload until the last week of class but his promise always fails.

I say every semester that I’m not going to do that, but it came upon me faster than I thought, he said. This semester went pretty fast.

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I have two exams, a quiz today [Monday] and three papers due on Thursday. They’re all extra credit, but I need them to get the grade I want.

Smith is among many students who are feeling the pressure to get the grades they want as final exams approach. And he has no problem with putting forth that extra effort to meet end-of-semester deadlines.

Although he has had the entire semester to carry out his class assignments, Smith said it is hard to maintain high grades in every class.

I’m on the border line of getting a better grade, he said. I’ll still have a decent grade, but it will pull me up. I’m a couple of points from an A.’ I know I could have done this a long time ago.

Mike Sasso, a freshman in administration of justice from Chicago, said he also tries to avoid crunch time, but it is in his nature to put his class work off until the last minute. His workload for this week is occupying him so much that he has not even thought about finals yet.

It’s very difficult, Sasso said. Sometimes I’ll stay home on a Saturday to get caught up. Once I try to get ahead, I just stop and put it off. When I’m at home I get distracted easily. It just doesn’t work at all.

I have two papers this week, and I have three finals in one day next week, but I’m just trying to get through this week.

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Christopher Kohler, a zoology professor, said he occasionally deals with students like Smith. He said he understands students have several assignments due at the end of the semester, but the hassle can be avoided completely.

When the semester winds down, he is sometimes approached by students who are suddenly concerned about their grades.

When they figure their grades aren’t going be the grade they want, all of a sudden they’re asking for extra credit, which is a little late at that time, Kohler said. And I just don’t give extra credit. Then I will have to make it available to everybody.

I know it’s hard for them at the end of the semester, but students just need to plan ahead. You just can’t wait until the last minute. A lot of assignments are assigned at the beginning of the semester.

Tom Kilpatrick, Morris Library access services librarian, said the library overflows with students researching for papers and studying for finals. This is why the library extends its hours to midnight near the end of each semester.

People get a little frantic this time of the year. he said. The pressure is on during these last two weeks, but by large we try to accommodate the students and I think we handle the situation well.

We notice that during this week a lot of people are in here studying. There’s a few people working on papers. We anticipate that. The last couple of days of classes we probably have about 10,000 or so books that are returned.

Unlike some students, Amanda Rexroat, a freshman in history from Ottawa, said she has no choice but to deal with the end of the semester rush. As a member of the SIUC softball team, she has to study for her finals while the team travels to away games this weekend and the week of finals, but she is attempting to take it in stride.

There’s no reason to get stressed out about it, Rexroat said. I knew with playing softball and classes I would need time management. I’ll be studying all the way to Drake and Creighton on the bus. I’ll probably get as much studying done as I would any other time, but if I don’t worry I’ll be fine.