No More Finals Stress

Finals are stressful, but what if there was a way to eliminate some of the stress that comes with studying for finals? Rearranging the finals schedule may do just that.

Putting aside the Gemara final—which is, for some reason, situated weeks before other finals—the remaining four finals occur one after the other in a single week (Tuesday through Friday). While there is a very early dismissal after each final, the close proximity of every final relative to one another makes it very difficult to study further in advance for later finals.

For example, it is challenging to study anymore than just the night before the Thursday and Friday finals. This is because the time spent studying in the days before the four consecutive days of finals are focused on the nearest one or two finals (Tuesday and Wednesday). Therefore, studying time for the Thursday and Friday finals are restricted to the afternoon and night before the exam.

To prove how important having ample studying time is, a study done at the University of California found that 90% of those who crammed for an exam did worse than those who spaced out their studying.[1] The data speaks for itself; students would greatly benefit from being able to study for finals further in advance.

When asked about the problems caused by the current constricted finals schedule, Junior Uriel Awerbuch took another perspective: “It isn’t good for a young person’s mind to go under so much stress in such a short period of time.”

I remember last year, when the history final was on a Friday and all of the other finals occured the following week, I found it to be a great relief to have one less final to worry about going into the following week. Now just imagine the effect of having two less finals to worry about going into that last week of finals. It would have, quite literally, relieved double the stress for me.

To allow for students to have ample studying time in order to avoid cramming, there is a fairly simple scheduling adjustment that could accomplish this without requiring the administration to give any additional off days for studying: break apart the four days of finals with a weekend in the middle. Two finals would take place on a Thursday and Friday, and two more finals would take place on the following Monday and Tuesday. It is much more manageable to juggle studying for two finals over the course of a weekend than it is to juggle studying for four finals in that same amount of time. The finals schedule would then look like this:

When asked about the topic, Mr. P defended the current schedule by saying that it is the prefered schedule, “so we can have a summer vacation.” However, my proposed schedule would, in truth, allow school to end multiple days earlier. Mr. P declined to further comment on the situation.

Junior Matan Rockowitz, when asked about his take on this proposed schedule, was fully in favor of it, as it could be used for studying and even act as “some down time for the mind, and reliever of the stress [of finals].”

Hopefully the administration can see the value of this revised finals schedule, and consider giving students more time in between finals in future years.

[1] http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140917-the-worst-way-to-learn