Sh***y Second Semester Syndrome

Maybe it is just me or maybe it is true. The second semester of an academic year is typically worse than the first one. I have decided to call it "The Syndrome" or the "Sh***y Second Semester Syndrome". It isn't something that I have experienced this semester only. I have been affected terribly by it this semester. Hence, I'm writing about it now.

The Syndrome

The Syndrome is the phenomenon in which a student in second semester of the academic year is unable to perform at all or at par with his performance in the previous semester. This is typically seen in students that start their academic year in the second half of the calendar year (known as Monsoon semester in India and fall semester in Hungary).

Students infected by this syndrome typically experience one or more of the following symptoms:

1. Impatience for the summer vacations to start. 
2. Highly negative approach towards projects and assignments typically leading to extremely boring presentations. 
3. Increased interest in gym and exercise in order to look good for the summer. This is also referred to as the daydreaming effect of the S4 because no matter what you do, you won't get that body you need for the summer. 
4. Having an usually large amount of crushes on girls as compared to the infinitely huge amount of girls you had a crush on in the last semester. 

Effect of The Syndrome

Once infected, a student typically ends up having a bad second semester. Grades fall, quality of work diminishes and acceptance of one's body type diminishes. The student spends more time thinking about the future as compared to the present. The student typically has a limited amount of time to devote to studying (time left after cooking, cleaning, drinking, eating and sleeping*). As a greater part of this studying time is spent on planning the future, the quality of assignments in the present suffer to a great deal. 

This micro/individual level phenomenon affects all students although the degree of exposure may vary based on certain antibodies present in the student like "lack of interest in hygiene" and "absolutely no interest in doing anything exciting in the summer". When this individual level phenomenon is aggregated over the entire student body of the university, you may see a general dip in performance of students during the second semester. However, due to the variance in degree of infection, some students fall behind in relative performance measuring metrics whereas others get ahead. 

Case Study: Me

The first symptoms of The Syndrome emerged in first year of engineering. The Syndrome infected the subject's body after wounds of a break up and a new gym membership left the subject's body exposed to infection causing agents. As a result, the subject's performance in the second semester dropped from 7.4/10 to 6.2/10 in the second semester. A similar pattern of GPA drop was also observed in the subject's closest friends codenamed RV-X and KGB (for security purposes). Due to lack of awareness of the disease and presence of a hookah in the vicinity, the subject ignored further introspection into this problem. The end of academic year also meant that The Syndrome was going to enter the dormant phase till the next calendar year. 

Over consequent years of engineering, the subject observed the pattern but blamed it on the subjects that were being offered during the second semester of the academic year. As a result, The Syndrome's grip strengthened over the subject. 

It is now the first year of the subject's Master's programme. Due to exposure to advanced medical services available in the "Developed" part of the world, The Syndrome has been successfully diagnosed. Procedures are also being set up to control the potential damage that The Syndrome can cause. 

The first sign of The Syndrome's re-activation was witnessed recently in a project presentation. The lack of essential information, bad quality of slides and a monotone of speech sparked immediate attention from observing doctors. This was coupled with an increase in thoughts of a cute girl during a math class. The subject comes from India. Such a drastic shift of focus and that too in a math class has been unheard of in the subject's part of the world. 

The subject is likely to go into a temporary rehabilitation programme in order to flush the infecting agents out of his body. Such a rehabilitation programme may or may not include a weekend trip to some nearby city (Vienna, Bratislava, Ljubljana etc.) 

P.S. - All facts and figures presented in this article may or may not be fictional. All views of the author are personal only. The reader is advised to feel free while expressing their opinion in the comments section below. 

*type of sleeping and it's quantity depends on external factors like availability of liquor, a beautiful lady or a lack of anything better to do.