New finals schedule set for 2006-2007

By Michelle Anstett
Courier Staff

The end is in sight Monmouth College; the summer is less than a week away. The time has come for summer jobs and road trips, but next year will come soon enough, with changes to the academic calendar.

As for the changes, classes start at the same time as they always have, but each semester has roughly one week added and finals begin on Fridays instead of Sundays.

According to Sue Dagit, registrar, there are several reasons for the changes in the calendar for next year.

Due to a rise in the student population, there have been many additions to the course schedule.

“We need more exam times,” she stated.

The faculty also decided to add a Reading Day the Thursday prior to the beginning of finals to “help students transition from classes to final exam preparation.”

During the fall semester, Dagit said students will be free from classes the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving in order “to be safer with regard to student travel plans” because the day before Thanksgiving is one of the heaviest travel days in the year.

In addition, the faculty decided to remove finals from Sunday, as Monmouth College is church-affiliated and scheduling final exams on Sunday mornings “did not seem like an option consistent with our tradition.”

Regardless of the extra final sections, the schedule does not require students to take three or four finals in one day in order to make up for the addition of classes; only one extra final exam section has been added.

According to the Spring 2006 Academic Calendar, there are 14 possible final exam sections; there are 15 sections for the fall 2006 semester.

The Reading Day, scheduled to take place between the end of classes on Wednesday and the beginning of final exams on Friday, is meant to assist students in studying more fully for their final exams.

When asked what she will do with her Reading Days next year, junior Lauren Swanson said she will “probably lay in bed most of the day and maybe study.”

Swanson also thinks the extension of the semesters, especially in the fall semester, will “inconvenience students who need to work” in order to pay for school.

This extension is also a potential danger for those traveling long distances in December, as the last final exam is scheduled on December 20.

Students who must take a 6 p.m. final on December 20 will probably not leave campus until December 21, one of several busy travel days prior to Christmas.

The fall of 2006 semester begins with classes on Tuesday, Aug. 29 and ends Wednesday, Dec. 20, with the spring 2007 semester beginning Thursday, Jan. 18, and ending Wednesday, May 16.

Final exams, for both semesters, will be Friday through Saturday and Monday through Wednesday at 8 a.m., 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. each day.