By Abby Aldrich
Final exams are quickly approaching, and once again, many students are not so happy with the schedule.
Finals start Friday, Dec. 4, and will last until Dec. 9. Dead day, an individual study day for Tech students, is Dec. 3. The exam hours range from 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day. Each exam is scheduled to last two and a half hours.
Jerod Bradberry, a junior marketing major from Keller, Texas, said weekend finals are problematic for students who have jobs off campus.
“Some people work on the weekends, and that’s the only time they are able to work,” Bradberry said. “They have to change their schedule up. But some people are paying their rent, and they have to get as much time in as they can.”
Ellen Van-Norstrand, a sophomore pre-nursing major from Round Rock, Texas, is concerned about safety.
“I would personally be frightened and nervous if I had to walk back to my apartment at night by myself,” Van-Norstrand said. “I would feel uncomfortable doing it.”
Fall 2014 Dead Day (Evan Dixon/ The Hub@TTU/)
The exams are spread out, meaning students could have most of their tests early in the week, then have one on the last day of finals.
This is the case for Megan Lynch, a sophomore early-childhood-education major from Round Rock, Texas. Lynch said her last exam is keeping her from going home early for winter break.
Many students would like to see a change in the finals schedule. Bradberry, for example, feels a lot of pressure because he has two finals on Dec. 4 and two on Dec. 7.
“I would like more space next semester,” Bradberry said. “It definitely puts some stress on me because I have to plan out my studying a lot more carefully since I have classes and quizzes on the Monday and Tuesday before finals.”
Van-Norstrand also sees another problem: having tests too early and too late in the day.
“A test from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and a test from 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. would not benefit our students because if the finals are late, then a student could be drained; and if finals are early, then a student could not be prepared,” Van-Norstrand said.
A Harvard sleep site suggests test-takers’ memory consolidation and performance may indeed be jeopardized by inadequate sleep, given that “only 11 percent of American college students sleep well, and 40 percent of students feel well-rested only two days a week.”
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