No matter what you major in, finals are stressful––end of story. Studying information for an exam is one thing, but completing a vast array of different projects and presentations? That’s a whole other level. For context, this semester, I have a full powerpoint to complete that is accompanied by a 15 minute presentation, a 20 page paper, a five-page reflective essay on a book that I’ve yet to read, and oh yeah! I have to design and print a layout for an entire book. All on top of the actual traditional final exams that I have in two of my four classes…yeah…it’s a crazy amount of work.
I am stressed––and I know I’m not the only one.
Emerson has a wonderful method of letting the professor choose what your final exam will look like, whether it is a test, essay, presentation, powerpoint, or something even more out of the box which is great if you have a lot of free time, no other assignments, or insomnia.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the non-traditional final, since it means that I don’t need to try to read my own handwriting (yes I still handwrite all of my notes don’t judge me), however, these projects take TIME. I’ve known about all of these for a good chunk of time, some even, since the beginning of the semester––but with all of the other work that was piled on top of them, they of course needed to wait until the very end of the semester (also, if you can do the final during the first week of class…should you really be in that class…?).
So here I am, writing an article about stress to what? Avoid the stress? Maybe. Procrastinate? Most definitely because I am more overwhelmed than ever before. My mind is in the headspace where down is up and right is left and my paper is a book and my presentation is a reflection on powerpoint? No that’s not right, but something like that.
While I know I will be able to work through everything and somehow manage to live to the end of the semester, the stress of completing non-traditional finals can sometimes be even worse than studying for a test. Especially when you have to write 20 pages on a topic you don’t even want to write a sentence on. Not to mention needing to be an expert in the subject in a few days so that if anyone asks you any questions, you know all the answers. I can’t decide if I would rather the swap that with a class that Emerson has where instead of a traditional in class exam, professors can give a creative assignment instead. That is a lot of pressure for someone who doesn’t feel super creative at the end of a long semester.
I mean seriously––I have to design and publish a book. A BOOK. This project is so fun and so cool, but the mental energy I have to complete it is a -7 percent. This project alone is going to take me hours upon hours of tweaking and cropping in InDesign, never mind coming up with the actual designs and content for the book (Shout out to Kate for providing me with a lovely manuscript of poems to design around and saving me this torture). While non-traditional finals can be a good thing, the amount of work and stress involved in them is exponentially higher than that of a 2 hour exam that you can read through your notes for. While I recognize that some students have to study all day and all night, that time commitment is also nothing compared to the pure amount of hours that I have been pouring into my non-traditional finals to make sure that they are ready to go by the deadline. Not to mention having to jump between them all.
That is just one of the projects that I need to have done by the end of the semester, and Emerson students are also writing theses, shooting films, creating marketing plans, and overall, just trying to make it to the end of the semester without imploading. Nevermind students who work part-time (or full), commute, have internships, or need to take care of family members in their time outside of class. As a person who prides themselves in good time management, how are people who can’t manage time well, or just have relatively busy schedules supposed to find 20 or 30 hours to work on a labor intensive project? Nevermind if it needs to be done in a group.
While non-traditional finals can be good from some people, and I might even argue that I also prefer them to traditional exams (can everyone say: severe test anxiety!?) the amount of stress that accompanies them is almost unbearable, and for some students, it is an amount of time and stress that they don’t need and can’t afford. Maybe, instead of one or the other, professors could offer an either-or option, where students can either do a project/presentation/essay, or show up on the last day of class for a traditional exam. Can you say: education equality?