Midterms/Finals Schedules

[jmo1012]

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Curious to know how midterms and finals are handled at other schools because SGU is toying around with various ideas and some of us are in the "why fix what ain't broke" category.

SGU currently has a week dedicated for just midterms. No classes during that week, and no classes on days outside of that week if a midterm falls there (i.e. yesterday we had our parasitology midterm with no classes, but had classes all week prior to that).

For finals, we used to have the same set up. One week dedicated solely to final exams and then no classes on days outside this week for finals (for when classes ended before the actual end of term). this semester they're experimenting with spreading finals out over 2 blank weeks rather than bunching them up into 5 days.

a bunch of improvement suggestions have been made for giving us more time to study (including the latest of giving us an extra few days in the term i.e. starting a tad bit earlier or ending a tad later). personally i think we need to stop being babies. study a little more, party a little less people. i've been working on study guides for midterms for 2 weeks. i do not want to spend any more time in school than i absolutely have to! we dont need more time to study, we need more motivation and focus. but thats of course just my opinion.

so how does it work at other schools?

 

[bunnity]

We usually have a finals week with no classes but our midterms aren't super consistent. Most of our tests and midterms are just during a normal day/week. But since we have so few tests per class (anywhere from 1-4 tests per class) our "midterms" and "finals" are generally just like a regular test and maybe that's why they don't get a lot of time spaced around them (finals do but that's only because they are after we're done with classes and they can put a bunch during one week).

 

[Coquette22]

AVC has midterms scattered through the regular class schedule. It's up to the profs how many tests they want to give, so for some we might have one midterm, for others we might have two or three. Midterms are written during regular class time. At the beginning of the year, students have two weeks to look over the schedule and see if we want to move something so it doesn't conflict with something else - say if we have two back-to-back, we might try to work with the profs to give us an extra day or two in between.

Finals are done after classes end. There's a two week period after classes end where exams are held. So far it's worked out more or less with one final every two days. So exam x on Monday, nothing on Tuesday, exam y on Wednesday, nothing on Thursday, etc.

 

[scb44f]

Mizzou has "midterms" all through the block (we take a given set of classes for 8 weeks, then it changes). So we pretty much have exams from week 2 until finals. This block we had 2-3 tests per week, which was manageable. Typically, we have all normal lectures on days with exams. Finals week is the last week of that 8 weeks, but we still have class. It just filters on down until we have our last lecture on Wednesday or Thursday and our last test on Friday. For instance, this block's finals week (which is this coming week), we have 5 tests in the next week, plus all those classes are wrapping up lecture.

 

[katryn]

We don't have set midterms either. All tests except finals are scattered through the semester. They typically fall on Mondays or Fridays, first thing in the morning but there are always exceptions. Finals are after class ends and we take one per day, for as many days as we have classes. They typically start on a Wednesday or Thursday, so we get a weekend break halfway through.

 

[Emiloo4]

Mizzou has "midterms" all through the block (we take a given set of classes for 8 weeks, then it changes). So we pretty much have exams from week 2 until finals. This block we had 2-3 tests per week, which was manageable. Typically, we have all normal lectures on days with exams. Finals week is the last week of that 8 weeks, but we still have class. It just filters on down until we have our last lecture on Wednesday or Thursday and our last test on Friday. For instance, this block's finals week (which is this coming week), we have 5 tests in the next week, plus all those classes are wrapping up lecture.

UF is very similar, but we have 4,6, and 8 week classes all mashed together and starting and ending on a crazy schedule. I had 2 midterms last week and a mid term and final this week all while starting two new classes this week. It seems overwhelming at first but you just make it happen. I have to look at my schedule every single morning to figure out what I have that day lol.

 

[pooter]

The drawback to the scattered mid term exams that most of us seem to have is that exams pretty much don't end. Ever. Since week 3, we've had exactly one week without an exam (and everyone was so excited that we planned big weekend outings and pretty much treated it like Spring Break. Except that we had class the following week.) It's good that it's spaced out since it leaves time to study, but we don't really get a repreive. Thus, I'm getting a major case of test fatigue, and the next real break is still a long way off.

 

[Emiloo4]

The drawback to the scattered mid term exams that most of us seem to have is that exams pretty much don't end. Ever. Since week 3, we've had exactly one week without an exam (and everyone was so excited that we planned big weekend outings and pretty much treated it like Spring Break. Except that we had class the following week.) It's good that it's spaced out since it leaves time to study, but we don't really get a repreive. Thus, I'm getting a major case of test fatigue, and the next real break is still a long way off.

This. There is not a single weekend this semester that we are able to mentally "relax", dare I say. Exams every week. It gets exhausting for sure. And it causes cramming because you get behind in keeping up with classes because you always feel like you have to study for the test coming up instead. But it is what it is ( I hate that saying ). Not sure I'd like weeks with multiple exams as an alternative. Oh wait, that happens quite often as well 🙄

 

[LetItSnow]

The drawback to the scattered mid term exams that most of us seem to have is that exams pretty much don't end. Ever. Since week 3, we've had exactly one week without an exam (and everyone was so excited that we planned big weekend outings and pretty much treated it like Spring Break. Except that we had class the following week.) It's good that it's spaced out since it leaves time to study, but we don't really get a repreive. Thus, I'm getting a major case of test fatigue, and the next real break is still a long way off.

Yeah, with ya on that. I think we haven't had a single week after week 2 without at least one exam, and most of them have at least 2 (as in, 'major' exams, not counting silly little quizzes and that kind of thing).

I dunno if I'd rather have them all stacked into a traditional "midterm" week or not. you pretty much hit the pros and cons.

In a perfect world, I think I'd *learn* better with fewer tests and less pressure encouraging me to cram for specific tests. Something like just a final that hits the highlights of the class. Overall I'm pretty sure I'd come out knowing and retaining more. But then the school wouldn't have much way to measure performance. So that can't happen. *shrug*

All in all, the way we go about educating people has some pretty serious drawbacks.

 

[jmo1012]

dont get me wrong, we still have a ton of other exams (2nd term is the worst with 2 exams per week excluding midterms and finals). we just also have an additionally dedicated week to midterms/finals. this semester our professors seem quite fond of scheduling their other exams all in the same few days.