Midterms are in full swing at Georgia State. Students are cramming in all-nighters, forming study groups, and utilizing office hours with hopes of achieving their desired grades.
Tracia Frank, a senior at Georgia State, has yet to take her midterms.
“I don’t necessarily feel overwhelmed but more so stressed,” Trachea said. “I’m not taking a lot of classes, but because I am a senior the classes I’m taking are upper-level, so it just requires more studying, more focus. It’s kind of crept up on me though.”
The exams are intimidating for new students such as Jainki Patel, a freshman.
“It is my first year so I don’t know what I’m going into,” she said. “I do feel prepared in most of my classes. All my classes are online except my first-year class, so it’s just me learning myself. My stats class is on Webex, but my professor only provides PowerPoint, so it’s kind of hard to learn off of that.”
The semester midpoint is October 11. exactly one day after the withdrawal deadline. The preceding weeks commonly have classrooms trickle down in size as students drop classes.
“I actually just took my first midterm this morning,” said Maahi Patel, a freshman. “I did pretty good. For the rest of them, I’m feeling okay. I kind of went in blindly because it’s my first year and I don’t know how the midterms are in college as compared to high school. After I took mine today I’m feeling a little bit better about the rest of my classes.”
Afternoons at the university library are notorious for being crowded and noisy, but with the midterm season, it is even more hectic. Khalfani Blue, a senior, sees this every year and experiences all sorts of problems.
“It does get cramped around midterms,” Khalfini said. “I feel like there could be more space but at the same time, I haven’t had a hard time finding an area where I feel comfortable studying. I think the difficulty that I ran into is that if you have electronics you have a hard time finding outlets to charge them. For the study rooms, you have to plan a couple of days in advance if you want to actually have a reliable amount of time to be in them.”
On May 26th, 2021 the Georgia State Library unleashed an approval for an expansion. Currently still under construction, the Library North Study Commons is taking over the former C-lot. The new expansion will be 19,000 square feet big with 200 additional student seats, according to Georgia State. Furthermore, library capacity is said to increase by 10% with its implementation.
Although the June 14th, 2021 update stated that the study commons are, “on-pace to open mid-September 2023,” it is now October and construction has still yet to be finished.
“Of course, it’s disruptive with the noise, but we are on a campus in downtown Atlanta there’s nothing that we are not used to,” Tracia says. “I’m just glad that they are moving forward with new renovations.”
Many students think the expansion is going to prove beneficial for studying on campus. Khalfini believes that the study commons will be useful and are needed.
“I think it’s an excellent idea. It’s a good expansion. I’d love to see the library extend its hours in general, so you can study with more time.”
Khalfini also notes that the addition of the study commons can act as another quiet spot, aside from the silent floor of the library.
“Sometimes the library can get a little bit too loud. The library has turned into more of a study/hangout spot as opposed to a quiet place where you can study more. It’ll be nice to see it come back to a study area where it can be quiet, and you can read more comfortably without having to tell somebody to quiet it down.”
The addition of the study commons is still underway and much of the construction is still left to be finished. Until then, the libraries are flooded with students, all studying for their midterms.
