University schedules exams for weekend
By ELIZABETH LEE
News Writer
Cramming for finals just got harder.
While Notre Dame students normally have two study days to prepare for final exams, this year's academic calendar forced the University to eliminate one of them.
The altered schedule was a result of a late start to the school year, which began on Aug. 28. Because the University wanted professors to report final grades before Christmas and allow students to leave with enough breathing room before the holiday, one study day was eliminated, and exams will be held on Saturday.
The decision has students even more stressed than normal about finals.
"I think that having a Sunday in the middle of exams only draws out longer an already stressful period of time for most people," said sophomore Kevin Sibbernsen.
Other students don't think they have adequate time to prepare for exams.
"I would rather have four days straight because it gives you some time to recover before you have to start studying and taking tests," said senior Jen Holmes. "Having a Sunday study day doesn't really do much for me."
The academic calendar for this year was set in 1998, and other options were discussed. Registrar Harold Pace recommended starting classes a week earlier in August, but the Academic Council thought the early start would impose on family travel plans and would require freshman and transfer students to return as early as Aug. 17.
Junior David Simms agrees that it is more valuable to have the extra days at home then to have pushed the semester back.
"While I would like to have the four study days, I would much rather get home a few days earlier," Simms said. "I just want to get home as soon as possible and forget about school for awhile."
The new schedule also means that exams begin in the same week that regular classes end. "Having finals start the same week classes are over seems strange," Holmes said. "I have papers due the last day of classes, and I don't really get a break before my exams begin."
Sophomore Greg Noonan said that the new schedule will work just as well as the old one.
"The schedule to me doesn't matter all that much. No matter how you arrange it, you will still have to take exams, and that's the major source of stress."
All News Stories for Tuesday, December 11, 2001
