Chugging espressos and overly-caffeinated energy drinks in dorm rooms after pulling all-nighters filled with endless studying, most Penn State students are finishing the spring semester with a traditional stress-filled finals week.Â
While finals week has been a customary part of the college experience for decades, students have differing opinions on whether there should even be a finals week and what changes should be made to improve the stressful academic season.
Many students, including Alexis Snyder, said they acknowledge why finals are necessary, but they said improvements could be made in how exams and projects are administered.Â
âI understand why finals week is needed to evaluate what students have learned throughout the semester,â Snyder (sophomore-biomedical engineering) said via email. âBut this semester has been extremely taxing on studentsâ mental health â in light of the pandemic and in the absence of any real form of a break to recover from burnout.âÂ