This week, Penn State students will be overwhelmed with schoolwork, concentrating solely on studying for their finals ... or will they?

Some students said they find themselves balancing jobs with school or social events rather than solely studying for finals.

"Working and school are difficult to manage sometimes," Brian Halpin (sophomore-information sciences and technology) said. "I always think I can study later, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way."

Halpin said he usually plans out a studying schedule, but it is difficult to follow, especially if the exam is later in the week.

"You'll say 'I want to study three hours on Monday and three hours on Tuesday,' but it doesn't always work that way; it kind of falls apart," he said.

Halpin added that friends are also a distraction, so he usually devotes time to his most important, or "core," classes.

"I'll devote a lot more time to that and be left with less time for an elective," he said. "I'll spend more time on [information sciences and technology] than other classes because that's what I want to do as a career."

Director of Supplemental Instruction Julianna Chaszar said the expectation is that students will study equally for all classes, but may concentrate on courses specific to their major.

"Realistically, there are some classes that students feel are more important for them academically," she said.

Mike Murphy (sophomore-aerospace engineering) said he usually waits until the last minute to study for tests.

"I'm a total procrastinator," he said. "You should put my picture next to 'procrastination' in the dictionary."

Murphy said he will often "take the chance" and go out with friends instead of choosing to study.

"I'm known as pretty spontaneous," he said. "If someone is like 'Let's go eat,' I go right then. I drop whatever I'm doing right then."

Murphy said the difference between studying for midterms as opposed to finals is the added pressure.

"My mindset for a final is 'it's all or nothing'," he said. "With a midterm, I could fix it with another exam and bring the [overall] grade up."

Senior lecturer in psychology Andrew Peck said there are many reasons students might not study, including overconfidence or having "too much to do."

He said students might also suffer from "learned helplessness," where they do not study because it has not been beneficial to them in the past.

"[Students will be] weighing the costs of studying and the benefits of studying; if they're overconfident, they don't see the benefits; if they're stressed, you only see the costs and it adds more to your stress," Peck said.

Halpin said attending class regularly makes spending several days studying material less necessary.

"I feel like if you take good notes in class and go to class, all you need is a quick review," he said. "I know people who devote entire weekends to going over chemistry notes. I could never do that."

Chazar said a difficulty facing many students is managing school with activities or work. "One of the challenges in college is to prioritize ... with students with jobs on the side you can't do everything at 100 percent," she said.

Peck recommends students "gradually build" by reviewing course material every few weeks. "It's a time-intensive process," he said. "Each student probably has his or her approach to studying."

University Learning Center members also have experience with unprepared students before tests.

Ted Macdonald, a tutor at the math center, said although the "finals rush" has not started yet, he expects some students will come in with unrealistic expectations.

"They're supposed to come in with specific questions we can answer, but sometimes they come in and list everything that's on the test," he said.

Director of the Center for Excellence in Writing Jon Olson said some students who visit the Undergraduate Writing Center in the final weeks of the semester are "stressed and in a hurry."

"They're studying for other things and not focused on the paper, or they're writing several papers," he said. "We'll work with anyone, we hope it will help a little bit and next time they'll come back earlier before the deadline so they have more time."