With finals just around the corner, some professors have changed the date of their finals, without much notice to students.
Some students have been put in past situations where their finals were moved from the original date because of a professor's inability to make the allotted time.
While some students have found this to actually be beneficial to them, others said this only creates problems.
According to senior Martha Mackay, when professors change the original date of the exam, it causes additional and unnecessary stress to students.
"There is an assigned date for a reason," Mackay said. "Our only responsibility is to study."
Mackay also said with her major, which is nursing, the order of her finals are very important because nursing students have to study for one exam at a time to be able to remember everything.
"Most of my nursing professors understand we have crazy finals and they won't do this," Mackay said.
Many professors agree they would not reschedule an exam because it could cause problems for students.
Professor Raymond Kupke said changing finals on students is a problem because students need to plot out their time.
"To change the final date throws all the courses off," Kupke said.
Professor William Stoever said he agreed that professors should switch their course's final time.
"If they schedule it to a different hour then other students may have a different exam in that hour," Stoever said. "It has to fit together."
Professor C. Lynn Carr said in her nine years of teaching at the University she has never rescheduled a final exam, however she knows one or two professors who have for serious reasons.
"It is best to avoid it, but it's got to happen sometimes," Carr said. "Sometimes professors have to reschedule for an individual student for serious reasons, so it's bound to happen for an individual professor, as well."
Coordinator and professor Adrian Demuro said changing an exam date should not create too many problems, especially if it is a presentation or project, which many of his exams are.
"I think sometimes final exams can be flexible and arrangements can be made, as long as the students know about it," Demuro said. "I have never heard any complaints from students about it."
According to senior Liz Lenhardt, when her final exam was switched to another day, she found the change to be beneficial rather than problematic.
"They have always been moved to the last day which was good because it gave me time to study with others in the class," Lenhardt said.
Senior Brian Hughes said he also finds that sometimes when a final exam is moved it helps him, however only if the exam is moved to an earlier date rather than on the last day of final week.
"It's more convenient when they get changed before finals week because then I get done earlier," Hughes said. "Mine are always on the last day and I end up being stuck doing nothing."
Most students said final week is stressful because of the amount of studying that needs to be done, therefore professors should not add to this stress.
"It should not be up to students to worry about finals being rescheduled," Mackay said. "Finals are stressful enough."
Lindsay Rittenhouse can be reached at lindsay.rittenhouse@student.shu.edu.
