As finals week approaches many students have begun their attempts to cram a semesters' worth of information into a few days of all night studying at the library.
Finals week is an understood necessary part of being a college student. However, some of the stresses that come with finals week at Auburn University could be avoided.
If you look at Auburn University's official school calendar, which is available online at auburn.edu/main/auweb_calendar.html, you can see the University has designated study/reading days before finals week.
Those days also happen to be Saturday and Sunday.
The University shouldn't call Saturday and Sunday dead days. Students have every weekend off, regardless of how it's marked on the calendar.
Many universities have a week or at least a couple of days before finals designated as dead days, in which students don't have classes to focus on preparing for finals.
The University of Georgia has Dec. 10, a Wednesday, as a designated reading day before their exams begin on Thursday.
The University of Arkansas has Dec. 12, a Friday, marked as a study day. Their exams begin on the following Monday.
The University of Florida has two reading days, Thursday, Dec. 11 and Friday, Dec. 12, as well the weekend to allow for studying for final exams.
Most of these universities achieve this by having a few more days tacked onto their schedules.
While adding a few more days to the calendar may be unpopular to students, it would be worth the improvement in grades that could come from the extra time to study. Currently, Auburn has a month-long break, one of the longest breaks for schools in the area. A few more days in the calendar would not hurt students' vacation time.
Projects and exams assigned the week before finals also frustrate students already stressed out because of limited time to study.
Professors should also not be allowed to give exams the week before finals and then give the final a week later. Some professors in subjects, such as psychology, marketing and chemical engineering have given exams this week, while still requiring their students to take a final exam next week.
That type of exam schedule, within a two-week period, puts too much stress on students, especially students who are about to graduate who may not find out their graduation status until the night before the graduation ceremony.
Final exams are already stressful for students and the grades received in one week can impact students' GPAs.
The University needs to rearrange this awkward two week period.
According to Brad Smith, Student Government Association adviser, SGA is exploring options to change the structure in the two weeks between Thanksgiving break and winter break, but nothing definite is in the works right now.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
