COVID-19: Over a quarter of USask final exams back to in-person

Students are back on campus taking finals at the University of Saskatchewan (USask), some for the first time since the 2019 fall semester due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This fall semester, 27 per cent of 1,220 exams have transitioned back to an in-person format in Saskatoon.

Fourth-year student Tauqeer Iftikhar recently finished a biology class that didn’t end with a take-home exam done remotely.

“It’s obviously tricky because you haven’t really studied for these closed-book finals or these high-intensity finals. … Exams are a space where students are mostly anxious. You have these remembering problems,” Iftikhar said.

“And I think (COVID’s) in the back of everyone’s mind, while you’re wearing a mask, you’re sitting with your fellow peers, but you want to make sure that you just focus on your final at that time.”

Iftikhar, who is vice-president of academic affairs for the University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union, calls this a transitional period, one that learners are trying to adjust to.

“You’re more anxious when you’re going to write something on paper, there’s that deadline, there’s that proctor. So a lot of students haven’t felt that anxiety level that they were used to back in the day,” Iftikhar said.

“It might be a hurdle for some of the students that are transitioning this year that were only online last year.

“They might feel this COVID fatigue, especially if their learning material was online-based … so these students are feeling anxious.”

With roughly 98 per cent of 22,100 students as well as 99 per cent of faculty and staff at USask vaccinated, Iftikhar said it’s one less thing to worry about while studying.

“I think the students are doing a good job because the university’s vaccination rates are quite high,” Iftikhar said.

“Because of the fact that university has a very high vaccination rate and I feel quite secure when I write my finals in say a lab exam or a lab room.”

The university’s interim vice-provost of teaching, learning and student experience, Jay Wilson, said it’s understandable to be stressed during this particular examination period.

“People who are maybe struggling in some areas and then with COVID, and being sick or the fear of being sick … the mental strain that it’s putting on people,” Wilson said. “That hidden parallel pandemic that we’re dealing with. People may not … realize that’s negatively impacting their mental well-being.

“You need to worry about your physical and mental health as well as the work that you’re focusing on in terms of your finals. That balance is really important. But this year and last year as well — it’s pretty tough to find that balance some days.”

Wilson said the USask student wellness centre is going at maximum capacity.

“We’re all impacted and we want people to know that they’re not alone in this. And if they need help to reach out to our student wellness supports to do those things that bring them joy or give them a break, if possible, so that they’re not just constantly studying.

“Our student wellness people have been back through the whole thing … Our uptake has been really high, so it hasn’t been always been easy to come in and see a counsellor, but … there’s lots of really good online resources that students can access.”

2:01 Saskatoon school divisions see significant decrease in online students

The last day of exams for the fall semester is Dec. 23.

“(Students) know that we have their best interests at heart. And I can say the same for our instructional staff or faculty, their support staff, everybody is working in a really vague and confusing environment right now,” Wilson said.

“But certainly trying to push things forward, trying to move in a way that has learning and student success at the heart of what we do.

“Vaccination and masking are the pillars of what we’re doing and … I think, it gives students a sense (that) people are really on board with this, not everybody, but the majority of people are on board.”