Finals week may be one of the most dreadful parts of your semester, but what sense does it make to have the most important assignments due before the week that is meant specifically for finals?
The issue here is not about having projects or final assignments assigned before finals week. In fact, having less than a week to work on a major project would only make professors wade through more piles of low quality than any person reasonably should. Additionally, there is value in giving students ample time to prepare for an exam as opposed to only have a few days before.
But when that exam is given outside of finals week, then what is the point of having finals week?
To be clear, this is not a call to abolish finals week. That would cause a myriad of problems, including not having enough time for anybody to prepare for any potential workload they have, and it will be an even more jarring end to what is likely an already chaotic month for most students.
Instead, the issue is with having the last assignments or projects of a class being due before finals week. While it is true that not needing to worry about many responsibilities during the last week of a semester could be a great opportunity for relaxing, that moment will follow what could also be an unreasonably full week.
If your finals are assigned before finals week, that puts more pressure on students who must worry about high-stakes projects or exams while also having to juggle regular assignments at the same time. An empty schedule during finals week is less of a relief and more of the question, ‘why couldn’t all that work be assigned now?’
If professors want to give students time to recollect and take a breath before the semester ends, then keeping assignment loads light before finals week does exactly that. Continuing with class like normal while giving out study guides a week or two before finals week not only keeps students engaged and prepared for what is upcoming, but also not cause undue stress.
It’s no secret that even if your finals week is devoid of final projects, chances are that you will still be spending much of your time doing anything but relaxing. After all, students on-campus must worry about deep cleaning their dorm and moving out at the same time. Yes, having as much time as possible to move out is helpful, but with finals occurring for a few hours a day, any time lost would be negligible.
Is there a valid reason to have final projects and exams due before finals week? Besides wanting to give open space in a student’s schedule for free time, thinking about any other reason is difficult.
A professor doing things differently isn’t bad. However, wanting to do something different for a class should benefit both them and the students mind. Besides maybe giving the professor more time for themselves during finals week, changing the flow of when major assignments need to be due seems to benefit nobody.