While many students are feverishly studying for finals, a few are not only studying but helping others with their studying.

While tutoring is an extra way to earn money on campus, it is also a job that must be performed every week, including during Dead Week and Finals Week.

“A lot of your tutoring people are freaking out and trying to schedule more,” said Kevin O’Brien, tutor and junior in mechanical engineering. “I’m pretty stressed out this week.”

O’Brien said he has been tutoring for two semesters. He tutors differential equations and Physics 221, putting in about 10 hours a week. He tutors five groups of students, and usually there are between two and four students in those groups.

Getting a head start on homework and staying organized are two things that O’Brien said he tries to do in order to balance his tutoring with his studies.

“I do all of my tutoring during the day and then do all of my homework and studying at night,” O’Brien said.

Although balancing tutoring and studying for finals is stressful for O’Brien, he said that the tutoring distracts him from worrying about his studies. He also said he also learns through tutoring people.

“A lot of people study more than I do,” O’Brien said, noting that teaching his peers has encouraged him to study more himself.

O’Brien said the advantage to being tutored is that a student can re-learn a session from class and be taught the coursework in a way that might be easier for him or her to understand.

During Finals Week, O’Brien said he outlines what a student needs to know and recommends that students avoid cramming and staying up too late.

While tutoring can be stressful, O’Brien said he enjoys it overall.

“You make money; you help people out, and you make friends through tutoring,” O’Brien said.

Some tutors might not even be affected by finals at all. Jared Ward, fourth-semester tutor and junior in electrical engineering, said Finals Week is not stressful to him at all.

“I have a fairly good memory,” Ward said, noting that he typically does not study but instead goes over his notes right before an exam. “I tell all of my tutees that I’m a terrible student and they should not copy my study habits. … I’m talented, I guess.”

Ward has tutored students in calculus, physics, differential equations and electrical engineering courses. Since tutoring, Ward has learned to tweak his tutoring to the needs of his students.

“I’ve tutored a lot, so I’ve gotten used to the fact that people don’t learn how I learn,” Ward said, explaining that he has learned to get to know the learning methods of different students.

During Finals Week, Ward will tutor Monday and Tuesday, which he said does not stress him out at all. He said his calm demeanor helps his students also stay calm.

“If the tutor is panicking about their final and your final, you’re not going to feel that great about it,” Ward said.

Tutoring is also an advantage to Ward, who said that tutoring has helped him become more familiar with the coursework. He said that while he passed Calculus III with an A, teaching it to other students helped him become more comfortable with the material because he had to explain it in a way that his peers would understand.

Ward also said that he pairs students up in his groups. The student that is most familiar with the coursework will be paired with the student who is the least familiar as a study buddy. The student that is ahead will have a new understanding of the subject once he or she teaches it to the student that might not understand it completely yet.

“It’s all about what people need,” Ward said.