While some students might be slacking off the weeks before winter break, other students are taking finals for their Collin College classes where material from the entire semester is covered and there are no test re-takes.

It’s a different story than here on campus where final exams were eliminated in the fall of 2011 as a result of the implementation of the state’s STAAR testing program.

“The only real difference between studying is that for finals you need to start studying earlier; it’s not something you can cram for the night before,” senior Maddi Tollinger said. “When it comes to Collin it’s college, you’re completely on your own and in charge of yourself.”

Senior Kaci Parks said that even though her college class is difficult, she felt ready to take her final exam.

“The difficulty of the class itself is much harder than my high school classes,” Parks said. “We did a lot of preparation in class though, so I didn’t study outside of school.”

Although there are no final exams at the end of the either semester, some AP students students will be taking midterm tests next week.

These comprehensive exams may not be something many students likes, but junior Patricia Crawford thinks they will help her prepare for finals in college.

“Midterms help me to retain information from the first half of the school year so that it is not as hard for me to recall information for the AP test at the end of the year,” Crawford said. “In all, it helps me a bit more for when we test for college.”