No Rest for the Weary: Students not happy about stacked exams after break

With spring break drawing to a close, many University of Connecticut students are coming back to several midterms, projects and assignments due in the same week.

Jessica Weiner, a fourth-semester communications major, said that she has three major assignments due the week after spring break and was unable to fully enjoy her week off.

“Not only do I have an exam the week we get back, I also have a presentation and an essay,” Weiner said. “All of which I am going to be doing over break, which is not fair because I now have no time to decompress from the stress I have been experiencing the weeks leading up to break.”

According to the by-laws, rules, and regulations of the University Senate, instructors of undergraduate courses can only have exams during regularly scheduled class periods, which includes the week after spring break.

For the spring semester, spring break will always take place after the eighth week of classes, counting the week with Martin Luther King Jr. Day as the first week, according to the By-Laws. In a 16-week semester, with Week Nine as spring break and the sixteenth week reserved for finals, it’s likely that students will have midway point exams. Spring break was a week later this semester due to when Martin Luther King Jr. Day fell.

Saumya Shah, a second-semester computer science major, said that she has a take-home exam that she is going to do over break.

“I can see both sides because professors [can] schedule [the exams] and deliver information so that all material is … covered before finals but [I] also don’t want to do work over break,” Shah said.

Shivani Doshi, a fourth-semester biology major, said she has two exams, one for genetics and one for chemistry 1125Q. She isn’t too worried about them, however.

“I’ll [probably] study a little,” Doshi said.

Rachel Philipson is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. She can be reached via email at rachel.philipson@uconn.edu.