There’s a specific feeling that you experience once you hit the 3 hour mark into a final and the world outside has gone pitch black. By 9:15 p.m., your brain isn’t even “testing” anymore, it’s just static — static and grasping at words to write out onto the paper.
The 7:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m. exam slot should be a crime. SFU is already notorious for those early morning 100-level math classes that defy the circadian rhythm, but this late-night slot? This is its evil twin. In April, there were 51 exams starting at 7:00 p.m. Are they testing our knowledge or testing our physical and mental endurance?
Cognitive performance relies on a mix of basic alertness, sustained attention, and executive functions like problem-solving and catching your own mistakes before turning the exam in. All of that drops massively in the late evenings.
“Night owls” have a delayed cycle that tolerates late hours, but the rest of us hit a wall in memory and attention as the evening wears on. It feels like we are being penalized for our brains naturally shutting down as the sun dips below the horizon. At this point, we’re being graded on our ability to ignore our body’s natural urge to relax or eat dinner.
These late night exams sabotage our sleep schedules and grades! If the sun is down, so should my pen. SFU, please: have the courtesy of letting us fail our exams while it’s still light outside so we can at least enjoy the scenery on the bus ride home.
