As stress levels skyrocket and tension
tightens, frenzy abounds the freshman halls. This past week, freshmen faced
their first tests and paper assignments. The frantic flipping of textbooks
could be heard until 4 a.m.

The hype over the unknown spread among
freshmen. Upperclassmen only fed the anxiety with stories about past classes:
"Calculus tests are as thick as books" or "The first chem exam has a class
average of 40 percent."

As the week drew to an end, freshmen
streamed out of Kissam and Branscomb dorms in a fateful trek toward their
respective testing areas. From the beginning of the week, panicked faces were
immersed in formulas. As they repeated the memorized ions for the 12th time in
the past hour, we had to wonder: Are freshman over-studying?

Sima Baalbaki, who studied for seven
hours, said, "I felt like I needed to study because I thought the test was
going to be very hard. I didn't feel like I knew anything since I hadn't had
chemistry in a long time. Some of the upperclassmen told me that I needed to do
well on this test because it was the easiest one of the semester, and if I
didn't do well on it then my grade was basically history. This definitely added
to my stress."

Stress is as contagious as the head
colds circulating the freshman residence halls. Competition drives the snowball
stress effect because the Class of 2011 is accustomed to standing at the top of
their high school class.

Freshman Kyle McCollom attributed the
increasing tension to his peers. He said, "Among different majors there are
different amounts of studying required. One freshman will see another freshman
studying a lot, and they will stress thinking they too have to study a lot
more."

Furthermore, striving for excellence
definitely drives up the stress levels.

"I am not really sure how I measure up
to other freshmen, so I don't know how much I need to study in comparison to
other people. I am going all out the first two tests in hope that I can relax
more later," McCollom said. "I am trying to be a little bit more leery these
first two tests in order to explore and figure out what the teacher wants."

The freshmen recuperated Saturday
morning after a night of "weekend" celebrations. Most freshmen seemed to feel
the hours of excessive studying paid off.

"It was a little bit harder than I
expected, but I think I studied about the right amount," said freshman Abby
Barnes about her economics test. "The test was only five problems that covered
five different sections we've studied. We've learned more than five sections so
I had to prepare for all of them."

The general consensus
among the freshman class is that while most people did push their limits and
studied past the point they were used to, that seems to be the way to succeed
at Vanderbilt.

Most freshmen seemed
happy that while they will still stress over the range of course material on
their next tests, they no longer have the anxiety of the unknown. Horror
stories definitely took freshman emotions by storm, but now that the initial
tests have been faced and overcome, freshmen are prepared to face the long road
ahead.

Freshman Lizzie Young said, "I
definitely thought the tests were harder than my high school tests, but not as
hard as I was expecting. I'll probably study more because now I know what to
expect and what I should study."

Nikita Rodriges and Stephanie Wells
Freshmen, College of Arts and Science.