Large lecture classes in the hard sciences, engineering, and computer science departments have scheduled evening exams on major religious holidays in recent years. Students and faculty have faced challenges in accommodating religious observances when exams coincide with holidays, despite Washington University’s implementation of a policy to mitigate this issue. 

Trying to solve this equity issue by making a push to abolish closed note exams and failing grades in colleges nationwide will invariably fail, and for good reason. Just think: Although these policies may make our lives easier in the short run, would they really help our long-term future?

It’s reading week, which means we’ll all be burying ourselves in Olin Library and trying not to lose our minds. Hopefully, these songs help with the latter.

To those of you who have taken it upon yourselves to show the world how studious and focused you can get—you seriously need to consider how much you intimidate the procrastinators like me who enter denial and procrastinate even more. Let me tell you why.

As always, there’s a lot of studying to do this finals season, but it’s important to take a break once in a while. Here are some of Scene’s favorite ways to relax during finals week.

With the shared hope of ending the semester on a high note without having to move into Olin Library to do so, let the studying commence. Here are Scene staffers’ best suggestions for surviving reading week and final exams.

The impossible task of finding a seat in Olin Library during reading week may soon be no more. Longstanding issues with teachers giving final exams outside of their assigned slots, causing scheduling snafus and substantial student stress, has led Washington University to consider changes to the finals week schedule—one proposal being the elimination of reading week.

Not everyone will be home in time for Christmas this year, thanks to the late finals schedule this year. And students are not happy. The last finals this year are on December 22, alarmingly close to the holiday for students who celebrate it.

Light at the end of the tunnel