For university students, the weekend can be a particularly special time. It’s a time to socialize, take a break, work a job, catch up or get ahead. It’s a crucial time for mental health and physical well-being. It’s a time to make university memories that will last a lifetime.
The weekend shouldn’t be a time to hold students back or set them up for failure. By holding weekend exams, Carleton accomplishes just that.
In our only time to reset, universities deem it acceptable to make a slight change in plans by spicing up our Saturday afternoon with a gigantic midterm accounting anywhere from 25 to 40 per cent of the final course grade.
Mid-semester, assignments and term work bombard students in full swing. When do students have time to study for a massive exam worth a substantial portion of their grade?
It’s certainly not during their busy class schedules throughout the week.
Can we use our time on the weekend to study? Think smaller. Weekends are for writing exams, of course.
Weekend exams simply do not provide students with enough time to rest, learn or prepare successfully.
They cause stress for students by setting unrealistic time-management goals. At a time when one-in-three working-age Canadians experience burnout, Carleton must teach students about the value of work-life balance as they prepare for employment post-grad.
Combine weekend exams with a heavy workload during the midterm season and exams already taking place during the week and it creates an overload for students.
Except according to Carleton, it isn’t an overload. The university defines an exam overload as “three or more examinations scheduled in three consecutive periods.”
So, unless students write three consecutive exams on a weekend, it seems to be no big deal.
Weekend exam times are also far too prevalent on Carleton’s recently released final exam schedule. After finishing a gruelling seven-day-a-week midterm season, students will soon have to turn around and do it all again in December.
As the midterm season continues and finals season approaches, it is unacceptable that Carleton continues to be inconsiderate toward its students’ health and success by holding weekend exams.
Featured image from files.
