Each semester, Villanova allots one full week for final examinations. Although some classes may offer the option of a take-home exam, professors who don’t must adhere to the university’s scheduled date and time allotted for giving the exam. With this reality comes a multitude of frustrated students twice a year who beg to take their exams on an earlier date if possible. As a result, is it fair that Villanova decides these dates without the input of students?
To get a better sense of the student body’s consensus on this debate, I decided to informally survey 25 undergraduate students from varying class years with five yes or no questions:
1. Did you know that Villanova chooses the date of each of your class’s final exams?
2. Have you ever felt the date of one of your exams was unfair
3. Would you prefer if the date were determined by a majority vote amongst your classmates?
4. Would you prefer if your professor picked the date? and
5. Do you think Villanova should consider a class’s difficulty level when determining what date the class’s exam is on?
After all the responses were collected, I was able to sort the responses and determine the exact percentages of the number of times “no” was selected vs “yes.”
For the first question, only 19% responded that they did not know Villanova chose the dates of their final exams, while the other 81% of respondents were already aware of this. It is easy to see how this question will translate into the other responses because those who know the exam dates are chosen by Villanova could also attest that they have felt frustrated with the dates chosen.
The second question showed an almost even split between people who have felt the date of one of their exams was unfair and those who had never felt that way. Overall, I observed 52.4% responses to be “no” and 47.6% responses to be “yes.” However, one thing to consider here is that since the dates are randomly chosen, there may be students who responded who have gotten lucky many times with all their finals earlier in the week.
About half (52.4%) believed that it would be better if the dates were determined by a vote amongst their classmates. However, the next question showed a more drastic split between answer choices, which can suggest that a majority vote may not be the most preferred method. Fifty-eight percent voted that they would prefer to have their professors choose the date of their final exams, which makes sense. Professors have taught their courses for many years. As a result, they may have a good idea of how much time is needed to study for the exam and can make the most effective choice for determining its date.
The final question asked students to consider whether or not a class’s difficulty level should be considered here. About sixty-three percent responded “yes.” As a result, many students taking more challenging courses would prefer that the course load be considered. However, it is still unclear whether those students would prefer their challenging course exams to be scheduled later in the week so they have more time to study, or earlier to finish the semester quickly. As a result, this debate isn’t fully settled yet.
Although this survey did not include responses from a majority of the undergraduate student body, it still can play a vital role in emphasizing students’ overall consensus on this topic. Although it may not be feasible to entirely change the current system in place for date selection, getting students’ opinions on topics such as this one is always important.
