<p>I’m trying to organise plane tickets home for winter break, and S has 3 finals on his last day (Thurs Dec 12), so evidently he can petition to have 1 of those moved. Does anyone know how this works in practice? The theory is here: [url=<a href=“http://registrar.ua.edu/academics/final-exam-schedules/fall-2013-exam-schedule/]Fall”>http://registrar.ua.edu/academics/final-exam-schedules/fall-2013-exam-schedule/]Fall</a> 2013 Exam Schedule | The Office of the University Registrar - The University of Alabama<a href=“way%20down%20at%20the%20bottom”>/url</a>. I’m just wondering if students need to wait until the Fall semester has started to contact their professors (because if I had my way, this would be sorted already, right?). </p>
<p>The other thing that unsettles me about finals is never knowing which classes actually have a final exam. Will AEM 251 (the lab class for AEM 250), have an exam, for example? It is a separate class (not just a lab section, like in chemistry) - not everyone who takes 250 takes 251, so I’m guessing that 251 <em>does</em> have a final? Any aero’s out there, please weigh in, with thanks. And, I appreciate hearing from anyone who has experience with this exam petition process.</p>
<p>Petitioning can’t be done until school starts and there is a set procedure as to which classes take priority when scheduling finals. If a course has multiple sessions taught by the same instructor, the instructor will often allow students to take the final with another section of the course.</p>
<p>My suggestion would be to talk with each instructor and see if any are already allowing students to take the final exam at a different time. It’s very likely that at least one of the instructors will be willing to make accommodations without needing to go through the petitioning process.</p>
<p>Just an update that might help someone. The recent Southwest sale (ends today 6/13) prompted my frenzy of sleuthing about this issue.</p>
<p>My S has 3 finals on Thursday Dec 12th. One of these is AEM 251 (Mech of Mats lab). The instructor is “TBA”, but I contacted the person who taught this class in the previous two semesters, grad student Chanse Appling. Here is the response I got back about the final for this class: </p>
<p>" I am the primary instructor for 251, but will be graduating soon so someone else will be taking over in the fall. In regards to your question about the lab final, we do have a final but it shouldn’t interfere with his others as it is always given the week before the other finals during the normal class period."</p>
<p>So, the upshot is my S (and probably other eng’g students with similar aero schedule) will not need to petition to avoid 3 finals in 1 day, because effectively the AEM 251 final will not be held during finals week. Of course, a new instructor might do things differently, but I doubt it, based on what Dr. Appling said above about how it has been previously handled.</p>
<p>Ah, further confirmation: got reply also from AEM 250 professor Dr Barkey, and he confirmed that AEM 251 final is taken early, during ‘dead’ week instead of during finals week. Dr. Barkey is the overall class coordinator for the AEM 250 and 251 sections. Book those tickets home for Christmas!!!</p>