Finals week, or weeks if you’re unlucky are one of the most stressful times for students across academia. Most college and university students are in the midst of it currently; last minute study sessions, high-stress, low energy, franticness, and anxiousness are all in full swing. At what cost does this come to students?
Exam periods can be detrimental to students’ emotional, mental, and physical well-being. There are ways to make them much less impactful on students and more beneficial to professors. Being a theatre major, I have experienced many different types of finals; these have ranged from exams to performances and many things in between. Here are my opinions on each type and a recollection of how it impacted me.
The most traditional final, a cumulative exam. Luckily, I have only been faced with one of these in my time here at UMBC. This was one of the most annoying things I have experienced. From an unbiased, purely focused on determining if my students have retained all of the subject material in the course, point of view I can see how this option may seem favorable. However, it puts students in an extremely stressful situation and only tests their ability to regurgitate a base understanding of the topics covered. This one, by far, had the worst impact on me. I remember studying for a week and a half leading up to the exam for 4 hours a day, while the class was still covering new material. I wasn’t sleeping well, my mind was hyper fixated on this exam, and it was extremely difficult to give thought to my other courses.
The second most traditional option, one that I’ve had a few times, is an exam but only on content since the midterm. These were loads easier than the cumulative exam, the content being tested on was still fairly fresh in my head and did not take hours to re-teach myself. I actually had three of these in one semester and was able to do well on all of them. Being less pressure and less taxing, I didn’t find myself as strongly impacted by each one and was able to remain mostly mentally and physically composed.
The next three options are all equally stressful for me. If handled well and timed out appropriately, the overall level of stress they put on me and the impact they had on my health is miniscule compared to the earlier options.
The first is a research paper, this allowed us to choose one topic covered in the course and take a more in-depth dive into it. We could look at how it impacted other things, learn more about its history, or anything else we wanted (as long as it was approved by our professor). Being able to consult outside sources, build a wider knowledge of our topic, and see how it is relevant in our lives is extremely information and less stressful than regurgitating information.
The second is a research presentation. For me, this is slightly more stressful than a paper because I dislike public speaking. But its overall level of impact to my health is much less that the exams from above.
The third final experience is specific to an acting class I took, it was a performance. Like the research presentation, the only high stress situation was right before the public engagement portion.
In a category of their own are reflection papers and reflection meeting. I have had quite a few of these in my time at UMBC, mainly in my humanities and theatre classes. These allow students to look back onto what they’ve learned and how they can draw from it. But they are inherently less stressful because there is no new material being learned or drawn from.
I think that more professors need to switch to research or reflection-based assignments. These still show that students have learned some material but give them the opportunity to draw upon the things they’ve learned; and create way less stressful environments.
What kind of finals have you experienced? What do you prefer? Have any finals triumph against odds stories you are willing to share? Have any finals horror stories you are willing to share?
Unruly Bodies 
I totally agree that finals week is very stressful! Unfortunately, being a biology minor, I have had a cumulative final every semester of college (this is my last year). It is the worst because the 4th exam is usually on Tuesday and the final is on Thursday of the same week. I found myself studying for weeks, not getting enough sleep, having a whack eating schedule, and was not myself, all to not do as well as I thought on the exam because I have test anxiety. The best experience I have had with a final was when the professor allowed the class to vote on how they want to take the final whether that be a paper, presentation, project, or midterm. Through this stressful time it is very important to get sleep, be active, and eat well so stay strong and we got this!
Sending lots of luck and good energy to you this week!
I’m always conflicted on what kind of final is the least awful for me, short of no final at all.
Cumulative finals are often terrifying and very annoying like you said – how am I supposed to remember week 3 for this one specific class, after 2 months of constant work and studying?
I always think I prefer writing papers to taking tests, because I don’t think tests are even a fair assessment of what I know given I have cognitive disabilities and memory problems. But writing massive papers triggers my perfectionism and exhaustion so badly that they break me.
Reflection papers like in this class are refreshing, given they feel so low stakes. When a reflection is assigned, I feel seen and recognized by the professor for how stressful and overwhelming the finals in other classes must be.
Here’s to all of us trying our best not to fall apart, and hoping we do our best.
Yes, the week of finals is upon us. Some of us have long essays to write, final exams to complete, or projects to finish. Finals in any form can be stressful, but I look back to see where I began and tell myself it won’t be as long as it has been. There is light at the end of the tunnel and a brighter day is coming. Good luck to all.
I think I have experienced almost all of these some point here during UMBC. Honestly, multiple choice finals whether cumulative or on the material since the midterm are the easiest for me and on my mental health. I am very good at regurgitating information when I need to. I also know about how I did as soon as its over. Since I can tell if it was a breeze or if it was hard. I have a research paper this semester that I have been putting off. To me, research based assignments are the worst. They take a lot of effort both looking up the information and creating the paper or presentation. I had one performance assignment that I had when I took Theatre 110. That was fun. I dunno, I guess it just depends on what type of student you are to say what you would enjoy. I had a long paper earlier in the semester that was much less stressful than the research paper because all the information we were to draw off of was given to us within the class, Good luck on all the types of finals you have this semester!
I have to agree with you, I’ve dealt with each and every one of these kinds of final exam formats. Specific to this semester, I have a 2 final research papers, 2 presentations, a topical literature review consisting of 15 research articles, a 7-9 page theory analysis essay and one other final that actually ended up getting wiped off of the table (it was 50 multiple choice questions, though). Personally, everyone says they prefer papers over exams, but I’d rather an exam over a paper. Papers, to me, require so much unnecessary energy that could be used in a more creative and academic way. Thus, I’d rather just sit through a multiple choice exam and get it over with! On the other hand, if I HAD to complete an essay, I’d be a more informal and “how did you feel about the course?” essay. I feel that this not only provides excellent feedback for future classes, but it also takes so much stress and anxiety off the student/s. All in all, I don’t have any horror stories to share, lol.