With the sun throwing short shadows over Northrop Mall, hardly a patch of grass was left unoccupied by University students who spent Thursday afternoon basking, tanning and in some cases, studying for upcoming exams.

Summer vacation is near, but before break begins most students are reduced to memorizing passages and trying to recall lectures from late January.

“I’m definitely not prepared,” said business sophomore Annie Supple. “I transferred from Arizona State and finals here are much harder.”

Computer science junior Chaymus Klang said he was lucky; his finals would probably be easier this year because his classes were more interesting.

“I’m about 90 percent prepared, I just have to do some memorization of older stuff now,” he said.

But factors other than schoolwork figure into end-of-semester stress.

“I work and go to school full time so I don’t get much sleep,” Klang said. “It’s always stressful just trying to keep things together.”

Supple also expressed her redlining stress level and said this year was much more trying than the year before.

Though Supple and others’ stressors are supposed to be gone next week, summer might not be the respite they remember. Instead, many students plan to continue studying, working and if possible, trying to squeeze in a social life.

“I’ve got summer classes this year, but I’m looking forward to my one week of vacation,” Klang said.

Undergraduates such as Klang and Supple are not the only ones who feel the just-before-summer strain.

Linguistics graduate student Oksana Laleko is trying to prepare her presentations, study for exams and grade her students’ papers.

“It’s tough to be a teacher and a student; it’s such a commitment that I haven’t even had time to see Minneapolis,” Laleko said. “I want to, but I’m looking forward to going home to Russia for the summer.”