College Finals Myth

Common myths that become quite popular around midterms and finals are ones about how to get an easy A in a class or just passing the final. The one that I come across the most is how to get an A in the class without taking the final. The way to achieve this is to experience a great personal loss about a week before finals. The exact details vary from active bearer to active bearer. My friend Adam told me that if someone in the class dies during the final that the whole class is rumored to receive A’s. My friend Sara told me that as long as a close family member, a brother, sister, or parent, dies within a week or two of the final that the student doesn’t have to take the final and receives an A all of their classes. My sister informed me that if the student has a personal trauma such as a horrible car accident or medical emergency usually within a few days of the final that the student can then become exempt from the final exam and receive an A in the class. My friend, Sara, is a computer science major with a game development emphasis. As part of the computer science community she collects and forwards a myriad of folklore specific to this unique group. Computer science folklore is unique and reflects the beliefs and the culture of the group. Per my informant, as well as personal experience, computer science majors have a unique sense of humor that develops from the difficult coursework, the long hours spent on the computer coding, and the group dynamic required to get through the major. This humor is often expressed through memes and jokes only members of this group can understand and appreciate. My friend, Adam, is a computer science and business administration major with a cybersecurity minor. As part of the computer science community he collects and forwards a myriad of folklore specific to this unique group. Computer science folklore is unique and reflects the beliefs and the culture of the group. Per my informant, as well as personal experience, computer science majors have a unique sense of humor that develops from the difficult coursework, the long hours spent on the computer coding, and the group dynamic required to get through the major. This humor is often expressed through memes and jokes only members of this group can understand and appreciate. My sister is a political science and economics major. She plays water polo and is a member of many “fandoms”. A “fandom” is a group of people who follow, generally, a television show or a novel. Some of the fandoms that she belongs to follow shows such as Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Naval Criminal Investigative Service(NCIS). The group develops terminology that is only understood by other members of the group. For example, many fandoms “ship” certain characters. This means that the members of the fandom or just fans of the show want two characters to become a couple.

Whether or not this actually happens depends on a myriad of factors such as the student’s grade in the class before the misfortune or the student’s relationship with the professor. One of my professors told our class that he had a student miss the final exam due to a medical emergency. The student made proper arrangements to make up the exam. However, the professor looked at the student’s grades and calculated what the student needed on the final to receive an A in the class. As it turned out the student needed to fail the final in order to not receive an A in the class. Since the professor deemed this highly unlikely he allowed the student to skip the final and gave the student an A.

My friends and I often joke about this myth right around finals time. Usually as we get ready to take the final one person in the group will ask “So who is gonna take one for the team and die during the final so that the rest of us can get an A?” Last finals season I became the “chosen one”. I volunteered since I was already really sick throughout finals. We have yet to actually test the myth to find out whether or not it is actually true.