The final exams schedule will change to give students extra study time beginning in the fall 2014 semester, according to Student Government Association President senior Demisse Selassie.
The change will prevent most students from having finals Monday while still finishing exams by Thursday. It will also include a time block set aside Monday specifically for make-up exams.
“I’d much prefer a full dead week because it feels like it would give us that extra time to study,” sophomore Max Ginnell said. “I think I’d like the extra day.”
Selassie said the original goal was to give students an entire dead day — either the Friday or Monday before finals started — but this was not a feasible option.
Selassie said according to the Seaver Faculty Association, professors wanted to ensure that they would still be able to have class, rehearsals and labs on the days before finals, so SGA collaborated with the Dean’s Office to redistribute the number of finals given on Monday through Thursday.
“We get accreditation based on the certain amount of instructional days of the year,” Selassie said. “Pepperdine’s at the minimal right now, so if we take away days, we go under that.”
The new schedule is a pilot program so the administration can gather data at the end of next semester to make sure the new schedule isn’t too chaotic, Selassie said.
Freshman Melissa Maximo said she wasn’t too enthused with the change. “I think it just means I won’t be able to go home earlier,” she said. “I think it’s just another day to procrastinate. I don’t think having one more day to study is going to help. The sooner you take them, the better.”
SGA surveys conducted over the past year or so have been in overwhelming favor of the change, according to Selassie.The exact numbers were unavailable. He said that as students of an academic institution, it is important for students to take advantage of extra study time instead of going on break a day or two earlier.
“This has been something that even on day one, we opened up binders dating back to ‘03 stating how students wanted this,” Selassie said.
He said that this change still affords students a little more time to study without imposing on the university’s or faculty’s needs.
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