Finals

It's that time of year again. The weather is finally getting warmer and everyone is looking forward to going back to the beach and have time to relax. There is only another month and a half until summer is officially here. But there is one more thing people tend to forget about this beautiful time of year. Final exams! We have all spent the past 16 weeks in classes learning about what we will need to know for the final exam and should be well prepared. Of course you probably can't remember what your professors have been talking about the last few classes. Therefore, taking a test on an entire semester of information sounds like an impossible mission. So instead of enjoying the new warm weather, one can choose to look at their notes from the class and try to comprehend what now looks like a foreign language to them. For some classes a final paper is assigned in place of an exam. Students initially become excited to know that they will not be penalized for not understanding a professor who for some reason always started to mumble in that early morning class. They become so excited and start to enjoy the spring weather. It's only when they are outside with the strange feeling like they forgot something do they realize that they still have not started that 10 page final paper that is due tomorrow do they start to panic. Along with their friend, caffeine, they pull an all nighter and miraculously complete, what should have taken days to do, in one night. Finally after this incredibly stressful time has ended and all of the exams are completed and papers handed in, one can then only pray that they did not forget too much of what they were supposed to learn and can still by some miracle pull off a passing grade.

Vocabulary:
tend (verb)- to be inclined to do something
comprehend (verb)- to understand
initially ()- in the beginning
penalize (verb)- to punish
miraculously (adverb)- seeming to work miracles
stressful (adjective)- full of stress or tension

Use the correct vocabulary word from above to fill in the blanks.

1. The student was ___________ for not doing his homework.

2. Exam time is a very _____________ time of year for students.

3. It is difficult to ______________ what a teacher says when he or she mumbles.

4. On a hot summer day people _________ to go to the beach.

5. The student ____________ finished the research paper one hour before it was due.

6. The class was _____________ excited to hear there was no long paper for the class until they heard the final exam was cumulative.

Grammar Point:
Write a paragraph using appropriate discourse markers such as: first, second, third, afterwords, next, later, sooner, then, finally.