In the mind of an exercise science major: preparation for finals at SRU

Patterson Hall, located mid-campus at SRU, home to
many exercise science classes.

Now that it is at last the end of the semester, finals week of 2012 is winding down to a close. Before we conclude yet another finals week here at the university, however, we’ll take a look at the week from the perspective of an exercise science student here at SRU. Whereas the finals of communications featured a wide variety of presentations and the finals of music showcased many different forms of performances, finals for the exercise science department focus more on vocabulary, diagrams, and terms.  Because of the nature of these finals, the exercise science department is able to adequately test competency of its students by requiring them to use skills that they'll need later on in their field. A major based off of knowledge of the human body, finals devised to test the extent of this knowledge in the form of terminology-laden exams seems fit.

Robyn discussing finals in the basement study
lounge of Bailey Library.

This week we take a look into the mind of Robyn McNyme, an 18-year old freshman exercise science major from Latrobe, PA. Though Robyn is only a freshman here at SRU, she has already been able to enter a few of her core exercise science classes at SRU.  The reason Robyn can take these classes as early as her freshman year is that she took numerous AP exams during high school,of which she passed and consequently received college credit.


In the following video, Robyn introduces herself and discusses a bit about her preparation for this year's finals week.



Below Robyn discusses her exprience with finals in the exercise science department last semester.



Now that we have seen her past studying techniques, how exactly is Robyn planning to prepare for the current finals week at hand? “Chocolate, energy drinks, and partial all-nighters at the library are getting me through this finals week”, Robyn states, as she points to her stack of books that lie on the floor. As she stated previously, a large part of the finals related to her major involve studying various terms and diagrams. Memorization and reiteration for these exams are therefore key.  As for her statistics final, Robyn can only hope for the best come examination day. “I take that final Friday, it’s my last one. Honestly, statistics is so hard,” she explains, “Every exercise science major must take it and I can say with confidence that at least 90 percent of these students don’t like the class.”

Here Robyn explains the current finals that she has for exercise science, and what she has must do in order to prepare.



Robyn's finals will be complete after she finishes her statistics exam Friday at 3:00. Afterwards, Robyn plans to pack everything up and head back to her home in Latrobe, where she intends to spend some quality time with family and friends.  Until then, she is counting down those concluding days until summer. “I love my field and all, but it’ll be nice to be able to enjoy some free time in the sun without worrying about different muscles of the body, or seeing numbers from my statistics book wherever I ago”, she jokes.

This sentiment remains the same for other students here at SRU, as studying and cramming have definitely taken their tolls. Walking through the campus, it’s difficult to spot a student that does not appear to exhibit the physical signs of finals exhaustion.

Even though some of these students will begin pre-session in just a few weeks, finals week has come to a close, and for the majority of students on campus, this calls for only one thing: celebration. For those of us that will remain in Slippery Rock for tonight and the rest of the weekend, there is no need to further explain, as we will soon not only see, but hear, just exactly what this celebration means.

Until then, congratulations to the class of 2012, and the best of luck to the graduates walking in the ceremony!

Singing their way through finals: preparation for finals week at SRU

Swope Music Hall, home of the music department at SRU.

It's 1:00 the Friday before finals week. Walking into Swope Music Hall, the following scene unfolds: two students are relaxing in the music lounge reviewing their notes, a clarinet player is replenishing his reeds before practice, and a young student is walking into the building humming her warm-up exercises. Now what does this scene represent? It represents preparation for finals week in the music department here at SRU.

Just like any other department within the university, the music department maintains a unique system of finals that demand appropriate skills from its students within the field. A major that is predominantly performance-based, the finals that are demanded of these students require demonstrations of skill via instrument playing, singing, as well as composition pieces. Not so much the informative speeches and presentations of the ET major that we followed last week, finals in this department entail a greater performance aspect than is demanded for contrasting majors. One characteristic that these music finals do maintain in common with the communication finals we explored involves the synthesizing aspect; these tests require students to take the skills that they have been learning throughout the semester and put them together into one effective piece.

Check out this video below that shows what several students in the department think about final week.

Liz works on her composition piece that is due Wednesday of finals week.

This week we followed one particular student, Liz Biggart, during her preaparation. Liz, a 19-year old music therapy major from New Jersey, stated that this is her second time around tackling the intimidation that characterizes the week. "You would think that the second time I'd be more prepared and know what to expect," she states, "but even though I know what to expect, it's just as much daunting and scary as before!" Two major finals that Liz stated that she is preparing for include her music composition piece and her singing performance in front of a jury.

In regards to her musical composition, Liz is currently spending hours in the lab, weaving different layers and instruments of her piece together. Liz discusses the importance of this piece, stating, “This composition is kind of a a representation of everything that we’ve learned throughout the semester. It demonstrates our knowledge of music and our ability to replicate forms of it ourselves."

Check out this following interview with Liz as she works on her final composition piece.



Liz also has a musical performance that she must undertake Wednesday as part of her voice final. She must deliver a well-known piece in front of a musical jury consisting of anywhere between 4-6 faculty from the music department. During this performance, Liz will be graded on the pitch, articulation, rhythm, and tone of her singing.  The majority of voice majors, along with those in music therapy like Liz, must go through similar types of finals in which performance in front of a musical jury is key. Those in instrumentation fields must undergo performances such as these as well, the piano proficiency serving as just one example of these demanding performance-based tests. To hear part of Liz's performance, check out this video where she practices her jury piece.





For those of us students who do not fully understand the music department, a simple look at some of their activities in regards to finals truly serves as an eye-opener to the amount of work demanded in this field.

Finals week, as for the rest of SRU students, will come to a close on Friday of this week.    Stay tuned next week as we follow an exercise science major as he prepares for his tests before we close this series on finals week.