Here's what Penn students are doing to prep for finals

As classes end and reading days roll around, Penn students start gearing up for the last hurdle before winter break: finals. 

Van Pelt Library is full, along with every other conceivable study spot, and students are scrambling to reserve group study rooms (or GSRs, in campus parlance). Here is a glimpse of how a few Penn students are planning to prepare for their final exams.

Max Frantz - College freshman

Major: Classical Studies

Game plan: “I literally just study. I don’t do anything else the whole few days before. I kind of ditch my friends. But like, personally, I just study. I don’t even eat. I forget to eat.”

Fuel: “I drink a lot of coffee.”

Hours of operation: “2 a.m., 3 a.m … you can find me in my room."

Mary Zhuo Ke - Engineering sophomore

Major: Bioengineering, with a Sustainability and Environmental Management Minor

Game plan: “Generally, I look at what my weakest points were for the entire course, and mainly keep that in mind when I review the entire set of the material that I’ve learned ... I look at the old material, material I’m both familiar and unfamiliar with, and then I try to make all those connections again to see what exactly was the way I was supposed to understand this.”

Down time: “During my entire time at Penn, on average, I’ve always gotten over seven hours [of sleep] … I never give it up.”

Fuel: “Clif bars."

Margaret Hemphill - College freshman

Major: Undecided

Game plan: “I went home, and I like, made like a pound of pasta. So I stocked up on pasta for the rest of the week. And I read a lot of FanFiction. And…I did some laundry. And I watched Yuri on Ice.”

Strategy: “It’s a mixture of being prepared, food-wise, and taking relaxing breaks.”

Fuel: “Going to Honest Tom’s.” “Pasta for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

Down time: “I’m the type of person who should be studying, but then sleeps instead…”