THE WEEKLY ROUND-UP - Final Exam Week Edition

This week's round-up mixes things up with a special Exam Week Edition.  Round-Up Host Nick Castillo talks to students on campus about how they get through finals week.  From the quiet zen of a monk to maniacally listening to video game boss music, these half dozen Fitchburg State students all take different approaches to making it through finals.

This is the last episode of the Weekly Round-Up for the Fall 2024 semester.  Perseverantia would like to thank Nick for creating and producing this semi-weekly podcast -- along with his other contributions as a reliable voice of many a show. 

As Nick completes the last final exam week of his college career, we wish him all the best as he heads out on internship next semester.

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Episode transcript here.

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Produced, written, and edited by Nick Castillo, a Communications Media student (COMM '25) studying in the Film/Video Production concentration. Nick is a member of the Perseverantia staff and a future professional voiceover artist.

Click here to learn more about Perseverantia. Join us for programming updates on Instagram. Or reach out with ideas or suggestions at podcasts@fitchburgstate.edu.

Transcript

NICK CASTILLO (host)
Hey there everybody, it's Nick Castillo and welcome to another weekly roundup on the Perseverantia Podcast Network at Fitchburg State University. This week I just wanted to take some time to change things up a little bit since there aren't any events happening on campus, but there are a full week of finals. So I wanted to sit back, relax, talk about some of our study habits. 

[ Lo-fi music begins ] 

I went around to some different students on campus just see a trend between some of them and talking with each other and it was really interesting to see the perspectives that they all had, albeit simple. Studying for a lot of people can be very easy, and for others it can be pretty difficult, like myself, who gets very easily distracted. 

But for me, I tend to blast video game boss music. Um, I don't know why, I don't know what it is, I didn't make the rules, um, it's just something that I tend to do, and it just kind of keeps a sense of urgency on me in terms of getting my work I don't feel stressed. In fact, I actually feel more invigorated to get things done. 

Um, I tend to just sit on my couch. I don't necessarily get into a closed, quiet environment, but I tend to be in a place that I can feel very open and very able to take breaks and move around. Um, while just blasting music of something that could possibly kill me. I don't know. (Laughs) Um, but in terms of other people that I asked around campus, they all had very similar, uh, answers and some of them had some different answers. Some of them were a little bit more eclectic than others, but I'll let them speak for themselves. 

ANNA:
 My name is Anna and what I do to study is I like to, um, sit on my bed and make a little nest out of my fuzzy blankets and just kind of like make it a cozy space. 

NICK:
 Alright Anna, I know I tend to be a little bit more reliant on you when it comes to podcast, uh, questions and answers and stuff, and I will say I didn't disappoint because I also will have a couple of blankets on me occasionally. 

Um, you know, maybe, maybe a little Pikachu squishmallow. It's quite nice. Um, but I also don't want to get too tired. I feel like warmth can lead to sleep and I don't want to get distracted from what I'm doing. Um, but you know, there's a couple of other people that kind of shared in my sentiment with music.

DEANNA:
My name is Deanna and one thing that helps me study is listening to music. 

NICK:
Like how original is that? Just riveting. (Laughs) 

ALLI:
Hi, my name is Alli. Uh, something that helps me study is listening to house music and or coconut mall from Mario Kart. 

[ lo-fi music fades out, replaced by coconut mall theme beginning, which fades out ]

[ lo-fi music fades back in ]

NICK:
Okay, I don't think there's a better music related answer than that one. Um, I don't know what it is. That is perfect. 

Um, I would also listen to Mario Kart music all the time if I wasn't too busy listening to boss music of stuff that could potentially kill me. Um, but in all honesty, uh, that's, that's gold. I need that. (Laughs) 

[ new lo-fi music begins ] 

GEYBRELL:
Hi, my name is Geybrell Liriano and something that I do that helps me to study is put on a show in the background while I do my homework. 

NICK:
Geybrell, I envy you. I don't think I'd be able to focus on that. I think I would be thinking too much about what's happening. Um, unless it's a show I've seen before, but even at that I feel like I'd be like, Oh my god, I love this part. Like, I don't think I'd be able to focus. I envy the fact that you can do that for your studying. Might not be my thing, but you know what? To each their own. 

OLIVER:
Hi, my name is Oliver, and what helps me study is a quiet place where I can have clear thoughts. 

NICK:
See, I can get behind a quiet place. You know, the movie's great- No, I'm kidding. Um, I feel like being just in a spot where, like, but it needs to be, like, complete quiet. Like I can't be… I prefer it to be too quiet and not like the fridge running in the background and like something outside. I can really get behind that, Oliver. 

HENRY:
Um, my name is Henry and what helps me to study is being in a quiet room. 

NICK:
And we see that more than one person really share in that sentiment and I think that that's great. I honestly feel like being in a quiet place, like jokes aside of me talking about everybody's responses, I Um, And, you know, I know that some people need like a little bit of white noise or a little bit of music. While that's definitely something that you can do. I think the idea of quiet is not necessarily noise, but more just like free of stuff to also look at. And, you know, if you're Looking at a white wall and then look down and your computer's right there or something like that. Like there's nothing moving around There's nothing that's really like forcing you to push Your vision somewhere else or to push your attention somewhere else. 

It's really just focusing on what needs to be done, and that's the idea of quiet that I'm kind of reading from this more than just Somebody not talking. So for that reason I really can share in the sentiment with Henry and Oliver there. 

JOA:
My name is Joa Dane and something that helped me study for the finals are, I do, I usually do flashcards and Quizlets. 

JASON:
I'm Jason Carmel and my study habits are usually listening to Like chill music while in my room and taking a lot of breaks. 

NICK:
And now we're back to the music Um, I will say something that Jason said at the very end of that, taking breaks also very, very important. I know you got to lock in, but it's also important to just go take a sip of water, hydrate every now and again, go for a nice lap around, or just like pace for a moment, just to stretch your legs. 

If I didn't have my Apple watch telling me to do that every so often, I would probably also forget to do that.

RYAN:
My name is Ryan Woods and my study habits are staying up way too late and destroying my sleep schedule. 

NICK:
Okay. Okay. Um, I didn't just say we were talking about just good habits today. Um, there are some times where we can acknowledge that our habits aren't the greatest and as soon as finals are over we immediately go back to normalcy. 

Um, if you can help it, keep a sleep schedule going. Thank you, Ryan. And it's looking like that's gonna do it for today's weekly roundup, in terms of what we got from different people. There's a lot of, uh, different responses. And I think it's important to note that, like, as I said, not everyone's study habits are going to work for everybody. 

And it's also important to note that, like, throughout the whole time, I was saying that, like, Oh, I envy Gabriel for being able to watch a show in the background while being able to study. That's not something that would necessarily help me. But, uh, yeah. I listen to music and that may not necessarily help for you. 

[ mellow theme fades out ] 

I think we all have different study habits. It's not something you need to worry about. And you know, unless, unless you're hurting yourself, remember to take breaks, remember to get sleep, but otherwise there's a lot that we can do to just really prepare ourselves. And we have only a couple more days of finals to go. 

I wish you all the best of luck and thank you so much for tuning into these weekly roundups throughout the semester. But with that, it's Nick Castillo signing off. 

[ Round Up theme fades out ]

[ Perseverantia network theme plays ]

JUAN ORTA:
My name is Juan Orta, Assistant Director of Admissions, and you're listening to Perseverantia, the Fitchburg State Podcast Network.