Differing finals

How finals week can change depending on the person

Everyone at Ferris know finals week is coming up, but how different does this look for each student?

Some students don’t have any exams, while others have up to five or six. As exam week approaches, this varies from student to student depending on their year, major and whether they are an undergraduate or graduate student.

Undergraduate students

Students studying for a degree in an undergraduate program have a combination of both general education credits, as well as major specific credits that they need to take classes for. This can lead students to a mix of different types of exams during finals week.

 Accounting freshman Ben Edds is a part of the College of Business. Edds is currently taking general education courses in addition to several courses specific to his major.

“[Microsystem software and statistics classes are] open ended classes, so I can take the final exam early if I want to,” Edds said. “My third class I have is communications, and that’s just a final speech that we give. It’s pretty much just open ended for me.”

Edds explained that he thinks having finals during finals week will become more common as he takes more major specific classes.

Automotive engineering technician sophomore Kameron Moore explained that he may not have to take one of his final exams.

“[The Automotive Service Excellence certifications] could be a substitute for our final,” Moore said. “Any students that feel like they are ready to take that test would end up taking the test, and if they pass the test, they don’t have to take the final.”

Medical laboratory science junior Jenna Murphy is a part of the College of Health Professions. She explained how her exam schedule is different than most.

“Our exam schedule didn’t come out until like three days ago,” Murphy said. “I have two exams each day of the week, so Monday through Thursday. They’re all cumulative.”

Murphy also discussed how her lab exams are individual exams. Meaning, each student gets their own patient with symptoms that are different from their classmates, and they have to correctly identify their patient’s issue.

Graduate students

Students taking classes in a graduate program have classes that are specific to their major. Due to this, the exams that they take are more direct to their field of study.

P1 Dayna Gesinski, a first-year student at the College of Pharmacy, weighed in on how her exams are different from undergraduate exams.

“We have a lot more exams,” Gesinski said. “We had an [objective structured clinical examination], which is like a patient care exam. We have to do different things like counsel in a new medication or take blood pressure [or] take a medication history from patients. And we have a cumulative exam on different calculations for calculating dosing of medications as well as our final, so it’s more exams.”

Gesinski added that her classes require a lot of studying, as the exams are cumulative and have a lot of information that needs to be memorized.

P2 Hunter DeWitt also has final exams that are different from most students.

“We have essentially two classes right now that everyone has one of them. We don’t have a final, we just have two exams and we’re doing assignments and projects the last few weeks,” DeWitt said. “Then the other class we have, they run in five-week courses, and then we start a new one. So we have final exams every five weeks, really.”

DeWitt explained that most of her finals are practical exams that are simulations of what they would be doing on the field.

Because finals differ depending on one’s year and major, students may find themselves in a spot where they are studying more than their fellow classmates or friends. They may also also find themselves having a varying period of time they have to stay for classes. However, the final exams students take help them get closer to obtaining their degree.