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I hate off-schedule exams. [RANT]

Princess AlicePrincess Alice
edited 2015-08-27 21:31:06 in General
If I registered to attend a class that meets from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM, it is entirely unfair and unreasonable for you, as an instructor, to place a significant portion of my grade in exams held at 6:30 PM.

Why is it too much to ask that you, you know, actually plan the course around the scheduled sessions? I know your assumption is that most of your students live on or near campus and will just have to walk or take the bus a few blocks to the exam, but some of us commute a considerable distance and we're left with the massive inconvenience of having to either drive back and forth multiple times in one day or find a way to occupy ourselves on campus during the five-hour gap between our last scheduled class and the off-schedule exam.

I've even had one professor demand that his students ask for time off work to attend exams before he would consider allowing them to take it an alternate time. Because you know, your students' other commitments are clearly less important.

I don't understand why the University administration continues to allow this, except maybe that they're just that out of touch with what students want or need.
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Comments

  • Princess AlicePrincess Alice
    You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    The more I think about it, the less sense it makes.

    Because not only is it a hassle for the students, but it becomes a hassle for the instructors and proctors too, as they have to try and schedule alternate times for all the students that have conflicts.

    So...what's the point? Why not just have the exam during the regular class period, when you know the majority of your students will be able to attend? You'd still have a few people needing make-up exams, but it wouldn't be nearly as much of a hassle as trying to accommodate dozens of students who have other obligations in the evening.

    Who actually benefits from this arrangement? And how?
  • CalicaCalica
    Sup bitches, witches, Haters, and trolls.
    at UNC the standard exam period was based on the time your class was at, so it was close to the class's usual time, though it couldn't be perfect because the exam was 3 hours long and classes were either 50 minutes or 75 minutes long.

    at UCLA I'm still not completely sure how they do it but I think it has to do with the fact that they don't have as many X00-seat classrooms as exams with a "sit with a seat apart" policy need so they have to schedule based on that
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