Finish strong

The last day of classes means little in the way of relief for most Duke students before a finals week consisting of stress, an unhealthy amount of caffeine and a K-Ville dry run in Perkins. Yet some students will have early freedom this evening thanks to a lack of finals.

Currently there are a number of courses which end prematurely each semester, to the mixed reactions of students. Economics 101 actually concluded several weeks ago. While we cannot comment on the specific circumstances of that course, we find it unacceptable that many courses assign large and even cumulative tests weeks before classes officially end. There are clear incentives for professors, who get to escape the tight turnaround time for exam grading. But students suffer, loaded with intense test preparation while still in the full swing of classes and, more importantly, robbed of the excellent learning experience that finals week often provides.

Final exams are designed to test students on the knowledge and skills they have gained throughout the semester. There are important reasons why finals week is its own special time of the semester and thus why the sanctity of finals and finals preparation must be respected.

First, finals period is preceded by a reading period, which gives students a few days to carefully go over their notes and consolidate their knowledge before the exam. Professors who set exams before the reading period are undoubtedly lowering the standard expected for the understanding of concepts and the retention of knowledge.

Second, no activities can be scheduled during the exam and reading period, meaning that students are able to focus exclusively on academic work. Duke students are habitually overloaded with extracurricular activities and social commitments during the semester. Professors who give early finals risk clashing with legitimate activities and events during the last few weeks of the semester—again lowering the quality of work. In short, studying for finals is an essential part of the learning process—it provides a time to review and connect past knowledge. Many students will tell you finals week is when they learn the greatest volume of information the most quickly.

The current university policy regarding assigning early final exams reads: “In courses in which final examinations are not scheduled, an exam that substitutes for a final examination may not be given in the last week of classes.” We propose to strengthen the policy to completely prohibit cumulative assignments at any time before finals week. Very long and elaborate papers that draw on semester-long concepts effectively substitute for a final and should also be forbidden while classes are still in session.

Not all courses lend themselves to cumulative finals—finals may not be suitable for some skills-based courses as opposed to knowledge-based courses—but we highly encourage professors to have them if appropriate. Professors who do not hold finals—or hold them early—in order to give themselves and their students an early vacation are really eliminating the best, albeit most stressful, opportunity for students to fully digest the knowledge imparted.