Why My Finals Suck

I'm in the midst of final exams. They're pretty rough, for a number of reasons. 

I have nine of them. Nine! Each class meets once a week, which is nice during the semester but now that it's ending, I have nine finals. Five in Japanese, one on Japanese grammar in English, and three on Japanese culture, also in English. I've taken seven, which means only two more to go. But...

I'm burnt! I've been studying steadily and diligently for two weeks now and I'm past the point of caring. Really. Of course I'm still studying and still trying, but it's difficult. Especially when...

I'm so tired. My four Japanese classes are all first-period classes, which means they start at 9 am. That's a terrible time for me to process language. It also means I have to wake up early to study. And, given the general level of stress I'm maintaining these days, I don't fall asleep all that early either.

It's difficult to know what will be on the tests. I have a pretty good idea of what to expect from my teachers back home. The amount of time you spend on something in class tends to be a good barometer of whether it will be test-worthy. Not here. Something you gloss over in 5 minutes can comprise a good fourth of the test! Of course I didn't study that, it didn't seem important. Test questions can also be vague, particularly for the speaking class. This class is all about knowing which kind of language to use in which context (polite, friendly language, etc). Without the context, it's impossible to know which kind of language to use. But this is what's expected on the test. Contextless questions. However, if we'd had the foresight to memorize the text book, we'd be able to recognize the question, and thus be able to remember what the context originally was. Which says to me: memorizing textbooks is more important than being able to properly discern context and thus use the correct language. *sigh*

And it's hot! It's torture to have to study and try to concentrate in this brutal heat. I'm actually sweating onto my tests. Lovely.

Wah wah, I know, I'm just tired and burnt and ready for summer. OK, only two more tests...