Final exams may be a little less hectic for everyone next year.
Effective fall 2005, the first final exam period of each day will start at 9 a.m., rather than 8:30 a.m., and the time between consecutive exam periods will be extended from half an hour to an hour.
These final exam policy changes came in response to an Undergraduate Assembly proposal passed in February that suggested these and other changes.
That proposal also included a clause unheeded by University officials suggesting that students who have more than two exams in 24 hours or more than three exams in 48 hours should be able to reschedule one test. Currently, policy only allows students to reschedule if they have more than two exams in one calendar day.
UA Chairman and College senior Jason Levine, along with Engineering senior and UA member Sean Lambert, who drafted the proposal, met with the Council of Undergraduate Deans and representatives from the Office of the Registrar in early November, when the proposal was confirmed.
"Most of them thought it was a great idea. They were all pretty receptive," Lambert said.
"Pretty much everyone seemed to be in favor and had no objection to it, except for a couple of minor details."
According to Lambert, some present at the meeting expressed concern over the fact that the last exam block of each day would end at 8 p.m., rather than 6 p.m. as in the more compact current schedule.
While there can be no perfect solution, Mathematics professor David Harbater seemed accepting of this one.
"It sounds like it balances choices among less than optimal options," Harbater said.
The original proposal was created in response to a survey of about 500 undergraduates conducted by Lambert, so UA officers are optimistic about its potential.
"I think it's going to make the exam schedule more conducive to students' learning environment and being able to perform to their best ability during exams," Levine said.
However, not all students see these changes as particularly groundbreaking.
"I don't think it'll make a huge difference," Wharton freshman Angela Davis said of the later start time of the first exam period. "Half an hour is not that huge."
Yet, other students are anxiously awaiting the final exam policy changes.
"I had plenty of 8:30 a.m. exams last semester, so this sounds fantastic to me," College junior Tim Ambrose said.
Engineering junior Lizette St. Hilaire described both policy changes as "definitely beneficial."
She emphasized the extra half hour between exams as particularly useful.
"For the most part, exams are pretty intense, and you need a moment to switch subjects in your head, clear your head," she said.
Former UA Chairman Jason Levy, a College '04 alumnus, was passionate about this proposal and was quoted as saying, "We're not going to sleep until this proposal is implemented by the administration."
Levine joked about his predecessor's passion for the finals initiative.
"I called the past UA chair and let him know he can now rest. He was very appreciative to the University for his long-awaited sleep."
