No Evening Exams
Evening finals would be stressful, not efficient
Published: Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Last week, the Committee on Undergraduate Education met to discuss possibilities for restructuring academics at Harvard. One of the issues discussed was a proposal to extend the number of times classes might meet by decreasing the length of finals week. This would be done by holding evening exams in addition to the current morning and afternoon exams. We firmly believe that a change of this type to the final exam calendar would be unproductive, as well as destructive to students’ mental health and academic achievement.
The current final exam schedule includes a morning and afternoon exam each day for eight days of final exam period. Although some students do occasionally take two exams on the same day, it is generally rare for students to have two exams or more in a row. This new proposal, set forward by Dean of Undergraduate Education Jay M. Harris, would condense final exam period into six days; however, it would also add a third, “evening” exam slot.
Currently, final exams take place either from 9 A.M. to 12 P.M. or 2 P.M. to 5 P.M. We expect that an evening exam could take place from 7 P.M. to 10 P.M., in order to give students sitting both afternoon and evening exams the chance to eat dinner.
We are very concerned about the effect this exam schedule would have on students who already become considerably stressed during the current exam schedule. Although no one would be required to take three exams in one day, more students would face two exams in the same day, and some students could seemingly be required to take one exam that ended at 10 P.M. and another that started at 9 A.M., leaving them very little time to sleep, eat, and study in between exams.
God, I was lucky with my college as an undergrad.
ReplyDeleteWe had a finals week with three exam periods per day, and students could take the exams in any slot they wanted in that week, in any of the available rooms set aside for testing (we never had proctors at any exams).
We had a very well-understood Honor Code regarding exams, finals week in particular, and I never heard of any hint of suspicious activity in my four years there. I thought it was nice as a student - I can't imagine how nice it was for the profs.
That certainly wouldn't fly at the school where I teach now.
Wow, my students would all be turning in identical work and telling me that it was MY fault as I let them cheat!
DeleteI guess Harvard students aren't as tough as they think they are. Where I did my B.A., my Ph.D., and two institutions where I've taught have evening exams. At two of these places, three exams within a 24 hour period was an adequate excuse for rescheduling one. I don't know what the policy is where I am, or if it has changed at any of the other places. Twice in my undergrad I had an exam one evening and one the next morning (they started at 9:00). Of course the "secret" to dealing with that was to stay caught up with one's studying so as to minimize the cramming during exam period.
ReplyDeleteBoth the place I did my undergrad, as well as the place I teach now have the same exact policy.
DeleteI didn't even know there were places that didn't do evening exams... Do other places also offer 3-hour time slots? Most places I've worked have had 2-hour exams.
ReplyDeleteOurs are 2.5 hours, and the rule is that if a student has three exams in a row, he or she can petition the professors to move one of the exams. We do have evening exams also. They all end by 9:00 p.m. I used to have a flexible policy on my final exams whereby I would allow students in any class to come to any of my scheduled times until I had a semester where I sat in rooms with 3-6 students for all the earlier ones and then had every single other student show up on the last possible day at the last possible time. I had to find a second room, round up an adjunct to help me proctor (whom I paid out of my own pocket for the time), and then speed grade a bunch of exams over the weekend.
ReplyDeleteWe have 2.75-hour exam blocks, with up to four scheduled in a day, the first starting at 7:30 a.m., and the last ending at 10:15 p.m. Students who have more than two exams scheduled in a single day, or those who have two exams scheduled in the same time block (apparently there are some kinks in the system, probably due to things like hybrid classes), are supposed to work out an arrangement with the professor.
ReplyDeleteSo, yes, the Harvard students' complaints sound rather wimpish to me, especially when you take into account that, although Harvard's academic calendar has shifted to a more traditional, before-Christmas, exam schedule sometime in the last decade or two (exams used to be after Christmas, with a correspondingly late start and end to the year -- not as late as the British system, but nowhere near as early as most American universities), there still seem to be two weeks of reading period in between classes and exams -- so, lots of study time for classes that have exams, and writing time for those that involve papers. By contrast, my institution has a reading day, and even that often gets canceled in favor of snow-day makeups.
Sorry, but I'm with the kidz on this one for a number of reasons. First, it's well-nigh impossible to think clearly and write for 9 hours in a day, or even 6. Second, no way in hell am I proctoring evening exams -- I have family responsibilities. Third, that kind of schedule shuts any student with family responsibilities out of Harvard.
ReplyDeleteBusiness hours, people, please ... or take-home exams.
I tend to agree with you.
DeleteAlso, all these universities with evening exam hours seem to have rules whereby students who have too many exams in a day can reschedule exams in consultation with their instructors.
As an instructor, I'm not especially interested in overseeing a second exam just because the schedule is too tight. Furthermore, if I had to provide some students with an alternative exam time, I might also feel it necessary to write a different exam for the second group. I don't want students from the first exam telling their friends what was on the test. Writing exams takes time, thought, and effort, and I don't want to do extra just because the university can't space its exam reasonably.
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DeleteOur evening exam slots are assigned only to evening classes, some of which students (and faculty) schedule to accommodate work or family responsibilities. That *is* a difference.
DeleteI don't know if Harvard has undergraduate evening classes; it *is* a place very much structured around the full-time, traditional student with minimal outside work or family responsibilities (and, to be fair, provides pretty generous financial aid, which helps students of traditional age with few family responsibilities avoid working for too many hours during term, but doesn't do much good for those with family or other time/financial responsibilities outside of supporting themselves).
Froad, I've taught night classes. When else are you supposed to sit for exams other than at night? Many of my night students have family responsibilities. So do I. We all still manage to make it. It wouldn't make any sense to schedule the exam during business hours, since many of them are taking the class because it's AFTER business hours.
DeleteIf your class is a day class but the only time for the exam that space is available on the campus--since EVERY SINGLE CLASS HAS TO MEET THAT PARTICULAR WEEK and the only way to stagger it is to extend the day--What's the big deal? Seriously--it's ONE FREAKIN' DAY. Not a whole semester. Yes, it's an inconvenience--for one day.
We've got 7 pm final exams, however as an instructor you can submit a request beforehand not to have an evening exam due to family responsibilities. There are also Saturday and Sunday exams. The 'reading week' of 20 years ago has been reduced to 2 or 3 days between end of term and the first exam date. Students can get accommodation if they have 3 exams in a 24 hour period. This is the norm at every university I've ever been to. So, I'd tell the Harvard students to suck it up, their complaints ARE wimpish.
ReplyDeleteYes, because none of these little flakes will EVER have jobs where they're traveling, at dinner meetings that last late into the evening, and required to be present and functioning at a 9:00am meeting.
ReplyDeleteJesus H Tapdancing Christ. What a bunch of whiners.