Studying against the clock

This exam season, you may find yourself wandering aimlessly through the crowded aisles of Perkins, futilely looking for space to house your tottering pile of books while subsisting on Von Der Hayden coffee and vending machine food. Or perhaps pushing the limits of sleep deprivation to finish that paper or studying feverishly for an exam for which you may or may not have attended class lectures. With finals week around the corner, we take a step back and assess the efficacy of our exam culture and reading period.

As the clock ticks its way to 3 a.m., one might wonder despairingly why final exams and assessments are necessary at all. Grueling though they may be, final assessments are opportunities to consolidate, process and cement the material learned over the semester. For some, this process means connecting and building on concepts throughout the term and discovering gaps in understanding; for others, it means frantically learning material for the first time. Finals are also, in no small way, self-affirming proof that the previous eleven weeks of lectures, recitations and discussions have not all been for naught.

Yet, if finals are meant to foster and concretize learning, then the current three-day Fall reading period provides insufficient time for students to truly engage with the material and produce the quality of work expected of them. While learning invariably occurs throughout the course of the semester, time devoted to studying and connecting the vast amounts of knowledge consumed is imperative to mastering the material. The short three-day reading period—especially when preceded by a demanding last week of classes filled with papers, projects, presentations and midterm exams—is not conducive to these aims. Furthermore, having only one weekday does not provide adequate time for students to meet with professors to ask questions or discuss concepts. As it stands, the limited reading period encourages memorization and regurgitation of information—which will likely be forgotten several days later—rather than full mastery of material. At the least, students should be given a four-day reading period as granted in the spring semester.

Another component of Duke’s exam culture is the seeming merge of finals week into the last week of classes—final projects, papers and presentations due in the last week replace traditional exams, and some cumulative final exams are administered even before finals week begins. Some students may benefit from this trend, as they may head home earlier, and professors may have more time to grade and assess their students. However, where time is limited in the reading period, the compression of exams and papers into the last week of classes is even more problematic. The increased demand heightens stress and takes an emotional toll on students who must still attend other courses, extracurricular activities and prepare for finals. If so, are students truly able to demonstrate their knowledge?

We urge the administration to be cognizant of the ways that this lack of time is burdensome to students and not conducive to learning. The various study breaks and appeals to student’s mental health during finals week from resident assistants is evidence that the stress and struggle is, indeed, real. In recognizing how these issues are tied strongly to the lack of time provided, granting more time could alleviate some of these problems. We also urge the student body to practice self-care while efficiently studying, making sure to keep health, mind and body in the forefront of thought. Happy studying.