Midterm is intending, time flies

Late march, the mid-term period for most students in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, is approaching and it induces a stressful and tensing atmosphere around the campus.

As the observation in the library, over 90 per cents of the chairs are filled, and all the tables are paved with thick books and messy notes. “There are more and more students wandering around the library. This place is getting noisy,” complained by the staff at the circulation counter, Ms Cheng, “Students tend to study when examinations are under their very nose.”

“It is becoming harder and harder for us to find seat. I have to get up earlier in the morning in order to guarantee a place.” stated by a second year engineering student, who is a frequent library visitor since the beginning of the semester, “I do not see mid-term as a stress for me. I just take it as an exercise for recording my study progress. If the students have done revision before and after each lectures. There is no need to rush before the mid-term. If they have not done so, it is useless to do the reading at this moment, because time flies.”

The promotion period has just ended. It also means the Annual General Meetings will start to hold. “It is definitely a tough time for sub-committee like us. Each AGMs take us 12 hours. We also need to spend a lot of time in preparing the meetings, for instance, writing agendas, producing financial reports and the annual year plan,” said the proposed chairperson of the Financial Society, Chan Tai Man, “We have nearly no time for sleeping. How can we squeeze the time for studying mid-terms?”

“My son is currently studying the University of Stress and Tension,” said Mrs Lam sorrowfully, “Recently he joined a mentoring programme and he have to attend lessons almost every night. Together with the scheduled examination at night, he