Finals week is almost here *screams internally* and as this impending doom ever so quickly approaches, I find myself wondering what finals week is like from a professor's point of view. What are they thinking when they formulate the exams that, we students, stress over for weeks? Professors, hey there, here are a few questions your students are wondering during finals, in case you were curious.

1. Is there a study guide?

First and foremost: help. 90 percent of the time, students know what the final is on (duh, all the stuff we learned) but, more often than not, we have no idea what to study or even where to begin. This is especially true of cumulative finals (aka the definition of Hell.) Study guides are like God’s beacon of light shining down from the heavens to students, and we will accept any help we can get. The guide does not have to be anything special. I’m just saying that a few bullet points with suggestions on what material to study go a long way. Please, don’t just throw us to the wolves because we may not make it out alive.

2. Do you consider students’ workloads?

There is a conspiracy theory floating around in the world of college students, that our professors work together to assign all major assignments at the same time on purpose. Obviously, this is not true. No professor wants their students’ lives to be difficult and they definitely don’t want to see you fail because you’re too stressed. However, what in the world are these fifteen-things-due-in-one-week shenanigans? I’m not sure how the whole academic calendar planning thing works, but there must be a better way to plan out the semester so that all our classes’ major assignments do not fall on the same week. Maybe not, but let me tell you if there’s not a better method, then there should be.

3. Do you stress over finals?

Obviously, you don’t stress about finals the way your students do because you don’t have to take them, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you experience some degree of anxiety during this super fun time. Do you worry about students’ grades? I wonder because up until college our success in school is a reflection of our teachers’ abilities to teach, but in college, the responsibility of academic success shifts from the teacher to the student. Regardless of whether your teacher is qualified or not, students’ success in a class always boils down to effort and motivation. So I am curious as to whether college professors view students’ final grades as a reflection of their abilities as educators or if they consider the success or failure of a final to be dependent on the students’ motivation to be successful. Either way, I could certainly understand how finals could be just as stressful for you as they are for us. Just know, we feel you, and we can all stress together.

4. Could you ace your final?

This is something I’ve wondered of teachers throughout the entirety of my education. I feel that if you, as our professor, are unable to get an A on the final, then it is unfair to expect students to be able to. Also, if an A is not possible on the final then it's too hard. Last semester, I heard of a professor that told his students he never gave As on the final because if a student could ace his tests, he wasn’t doing his job correctly because the test was too easy. I’m sorry, what? That makes no sense to me and also goes back to the motivation-of-the-student thing. If we are expected to be responsible for our own success, then how are we supposed to accept that we can’t earn an A regardless of effort? Is this some type of backward attempt to motivate students to study because it creates an I’ll-show-you mentality? I hope so because if that professor really refuses to give As then that is just wrong, and also if his tests are so hard his students can’t earn As, that is also wrong. If that is meant to motivate, I know it would have the opposite effect on me. I would just think, “Well, can’t get an A anyway. Might as well not study.” Please, from a pleading college student, do not make the final so hard that we can’t pass it. The final should only be as difficult as the amount of preparation done by the individual student. In other words, finals should be easy for students if they study.

5. Do you remember your college finals?

A frequent line in my parents’ vocabulary is, “You forget, I was in college once, too.” Obviously, you’re a professor, so you went to college. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be teaching. You must, therefore, know how finals work. I mean, college itself may be different now than it was when you were students, but you are probably no stranger to the stress that comes with the end of the semester. I ask that you reflect on your time as a student and really internalize the memories of your experiences during and in the weeks leading up to finals. Were you stressed, overwhelmed, questioning why you went to college in the first place? If so, we still have these experiences as students and a simple consideration of this is so appreciated. I feel that some professors have forgotten what it’s like to be a college student. It’s difficult, complicated and sometimes we try to balance so many things we feel like clowns juggling on unicycles. When a professor acknowledges that they understand, it means more to students than that professor will ever know, especially when they follow up with a deadline extension.

Finals suck all around, there’s no doubt about that. For teachers and students equally, the week of finals is enclosed in an envelope of anxiety-inducing factors. Students stress endlessly over studying and preparing for tests and assignments that will, in some cases, determine their standing in the class. Professors assumingly stress equally over their students' success –and perhaps even their own success– in preparing their students for this conclusive test. I think it is important for both sides to take a step back and view this highly despised, tense time from the other’s point of view. Maybe if we can understand each other's opinions, concerns and approaches to finals week, we can help each other through it. Imagine a mutually beneficial relationship between student and professor? What a concept.