Finals week is here, and many students have spent hours studying to prepare for their last tests of the semester, but how do professors prepare for finals?

Barbara Mack, associate professor of journalism and mass communication, said professors do many of the same things students do to get ready for finals.

“Professors prepare about the same as students do — we work hard, we don’t sleep and we bite the heads off of those we love,” she said.

Brad Bushman, associate professor of psychology, said it is also important to make sure students are aware of what will be covered on the final.

“I just make sure the material for the final has been discussed in class,” he said. “I also try to make myself even more accessible to students to answer questions.

“I also try to reduce stress for the students by making sure they know the percent of questions on the final that will come from lecture and the percent that will be taken from the book,” he said.

Some professors expand their office hours so students can ask them questions, said Terry Alexander, adjunct associate professor of economics.

“I increase my office hours and put together a review packet that students can download off of the Internet,” he said.

Suzanne Hendrich, associate dean of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, said she thinks review sessions are the best way to prepare students for final exams.

“I think the main thing is to help students prepare by offering a review session. I also offer a practice exam with a key on our Web site,” she said.

All four professors also said they have put in many hours preparing to give their finals.

“I’ve probably spent about five hours on everything,” Hendrich said. “The major thing for me is getting all the grades organized. That takes of a lot of time since my classes have about 600 people altogether.”

Alexander said he has spent closer to 15 hours getting everything ready for his finals.

“Writing the final is not that lengthy — it’s writing the key for the TAs to grade the exams with that takes a lot more time,” he said. “You also have a lot of time invested in grading, posting grades and doing review sessions.”

Mack also said preparing for finals can be fairly time-intensive for professors.

“How long does it take to have a baby — nine months?” she joked. “It can take a lot of time, and what’s worse is grading them. It took me four to five hours to write the final for my Journalism 101 class, but then you also go back and rewrite the badly worded questions.”

Hendrich said the most difficult part of finals for her is seeing the frustration in students who haven’t done well in class.

“I guess the hardest part is trying to help students who are really disappointed with how they’ve done,” she said.

“I really try to help them understand the rationale for their final grade, whether they agree with it or not,” she said.

Mack said the worst part about the end of the year is seeing the stack of papers she has to grade grow.

“I always say if I could take some grain and make it multiply the way my pile of stuff to grade at the end of the year always seems to, I could end world hunger,” she said.