With finals wrapping up, the stress they provide is something left to consider. Finals will always cause at least a little bit of stress, but it is worth thinking about ways to reduce the anxiety.
The Equinox editors believe preparing for finals is the responsibility of the students taking them. Professors take their time to teach students the skills required to grow and pass the class. All students need to do is take the class seriously and pay attention to the material if they do not want to fail.
Most of the stress that comes from finals lies in how prepared the students are for them. It is imperative each student takes their classes seriously to shorten the anxiety that comes with finals.
While the majority of the stress lies on the students themselves, that is not to say all of it is solely on them. Professors could take a few steps to make sure their students are not too worried about their finals. If students have too much anxiety during their final, the end result will be worse.
One thing we think professors could do is collaborate better with other professors in the same department. Not every final will be the same format, some will be tests while some will use another medium and a mixture can be problematic for some students. While we see it as important for professors to teach how they see fit, students having drastically differing finals might not be the best course of action.
Projects and exams are the typical forms of finals given. Students having a mixture of the two can be a bit confusing. Some students are good at taking exams while others are better with projects. It is possible that students may be disoriented from going from one medium to another.
It is for the best that professors in each department coordinate their styles more often. Having every professor at Keene State College collaborate with each other would not work, but professors in each department, especially the smaller departments, possibly could and we believe that would be a good thing.
Another thing we think professors could do is have more consistent schedules. The shifting schedule for finals week is already a bit confusing for some students. It would be less confusing if professors communicated more clearly what day and time their finals will take place.
On top of that, finals should also take place on finals week and not the week before. Students are going to need ample time to study for or work on their final, so shortening the time is not fair.
To make things worse, while some professors give out finals early, other professors will give them out on finals week leaving some students in a Purgatory-like state while they wait.
On the other hand, we can understand why some professors might give out finals early. Professors need to have their students’ grades posted by a quick deadline. For this semester, professors at Keene State College need to have their grades posted by Dec. 19.
We are sympathetic to professors needing to make their deadlines, which is why we believe Keene State should extend the deadline so professors are not under a lot of stress from grading.
We at The Equinox hope you all have done well this semester, especially in regards to keeping good mental health. Eliminating stress around finals week would certainly help in that regard.
