Exam schedules see slight tweaks

This year, there have been several changes to exam scheduling. With the St. Michael’s campus coming off line and a growing student population, however, not all students may feel a positive change.

With limited space for an increasing student population, changes must be made to accommodate everyone. This year, there will be no final exams on Sundays. There is a maximum length of two and a half hours for a final exam. Finally, there are four time slots for exams this year, as opposed to three last year.

Despite these changes, pressure is still being felt due to the absence of St. Michael’s.

“That was a place that we used for classes and exams as well, and I mean, it’s quite a bit of space, not a ton, but I think it’s like ten percent or something like that,” said Ray Darling, registrar and commissioner of oaths at Wilfrid Laurier University, on the removal of St. Michael’s from the exam scheduling spaces.

“So that’s not insignificant when your student body is growing, to have something like that come off line,” he added. Despite the loss of St. Mike’s, the registrar still strove for a fair schedule.

Students are not able to write more than three exams within 24 hours, and there is a random element to the system that filters through the classes in the scheduling process. Departments can even have some pull in helping space out the exams for their students, although this is a benefit more directed at business and science students than the arts.

Darling attributes the typically less spaced out exam schedule of an arts student to the fact that, “ [arts students] are all over the place”.

According to Darling, the difference between business student exam schedules and arts student exam schedules is, “with programs like business and science there’s a lot of core courses, so they can sort those things out, but with arts students, you can take anything really.”

Marissa Homosits, a second-year archaeology student, disagrees, as she is taking all the required courses she can for her program. With classes that alternate and are only offered every other year, she is forced to take several classes from differing years. She said this is not being taken into consideration by the university.

“They should know what year certain courses are being offered in and they should know not to put those too close for students. Our program is so small like everyone has to take them. So, they should be more aware of where they are putting them,” she said.

In contrast, Rachel Nakamoto, a second-year business student said, “My exam schedule is not that bad considering that I get to leave on the 16th, so that’s pretty early. It’s better than last year. I guess I’m lucky that I don’t have exams on the same day, and that most of my exams are not one after another.”

Darling said that exam scheduling is, “One of the most thankless jobs in the Registrar’s office, ‘cause people don’t call you up and go, ‘My schedule is great,’ they’re just like, ‘what are you doing?’ You only hear the complaints.”