Karen Sophiea, director of marketing at City College paid a visit to the Associated Student Government Friday morning to discuss proposed changes to the finals schedule.

Sophiea started out the meeting with a grim warning saying “the finals exam schedule is broken.”

The exam scheduling has become a major issue for the college with the introduction of more hybrid, or half online half in-person classes, as well as one-hour classes that would normally meet four times a week requiring a two-hour final.

Last year there were 35 rooms double booked for finals testing, causing a huge headache for staff and students alike trying to get ready for the biggest test of the semester.

The proposal would add an additional final exam during the day cutting the usual hour break between each test to a much shorter 15 minute break. The additional time crunch had many of the Student Senators worried, including Vice President of Senate Affairs Colette Brown.

“It just doesn’t seem like [an] adequate amount of time to get where we need to go,” said Brown. “But also just for mentally preparing.”

Teachers would also be given a much shorter 48-hour time frame after the final to get grades in. This would then give students less time to contest any grading issues at the end of the semester.

When administration had brought the changes up to teachers, virtually all of them had the same complaints; 15 minutes would not be enough time for students.

Sophiea did mention that most students only have one class per day, which wouldn’t affect them. The rest of the students would just have to adjust to the new schedule.

“It creates an unfair advantage,” said Student Advocate Andrew Stavrenos.

One of the ways administration is thinking of combating the issue is adding finals on the Friday of finals week for classes that meet the rest of the week, alleviating some of the scheduling strain. The big problem causing this is City College’s huge list of available courses. With an influx of more classes and less space to put them in, scheduling for all of them has become increasingly difficult each semester.

For students worried about the changes, anyone taking three finals in one day can ask their department head for an accommodation in order to ease the strain.

Even with that available, there is a strong consensus among the Senator’s that the break was too short. “Students should at least be allowed an hour to go to the bathroom, prepare themselves mentally for it and review their notes,” said Stavrenos.

The changes have not been finalized yet and the administration will continue to seek input from students and staff.