2nd to 3d

I remember people saying that second years is just a buffer between 2nd year and 3rd, much like a film, the only reason its there is to prepare you for the 3rd one. But i was thinking in order to prepare you for 3rd year there is actually quite a lot to do. For example if you have recently aspired to be something like a next gen character artist then its going to have to show in your portfolio, which means your 3rd year fmp will probably be along the lines of character designing. But in order to be good at a character artist you need to get certain skills up to scratch, character modelling, texturing, zbrush if you want next gen, rigging, topology and so on. and if you plan on doin this for a 3rd year fmp that means u have the space of second year to not only learn it all but to get good at it, and that to me sounds like a lot of work.

This has got me a tad worried about how much work is actually involved in 2nd year as all this practice has to get done in such a short space so you can utilise it and be ready to put it into practice in your 3rd year. Because lets face it, if you want to be something like a character artist and dont know the basics about topology and alpha maps by your 3rd year your a bit fucked. This kinda gives me the idea of stress much? its made me realise how serious and how much work this course is if you truely are driving towards being good in the industry. Which considering the second year is the year where there is a slump at work, i mean with all this in mind shouldnt it be the other way round? with second year being the year out of the 3 where you work the most so you can be prepared for the final hurdle? im finding this worrying. So ill keep this one short and sweet and all im saying is second term a lot more has to be done...beacuse if you want to be good at this second year is important isnt it?