Chemistry students, in a self-compiled report submitted to their department, have spoken of the mental and physical pressure placed on them by the third year of their degree.
The report, obtained by The University Times, reveals the huge academic pressures on third-year chemistry students, which compares their workload to courses with overlapping modules. Nanoscience, physics & chemistry of advanced materials, commonly referred to as “nanoscience”, and physics students share modules with chemistry students. The courses have similar components with the chemistry course but have less work for modules worth the same, or more credits.
The contact hours are considerably higher in third-year chemistry than for the same year in nanoscience and physics, the report found, with 60 and 121 contact hours respectively.
In the practical component of third year, chemistry students complete 20 lab reports, while nanoscience and physics students complete just 10-12 lab reports, with an essay and a short presentation. This component is worth only 15 credits for chemistry students and 20 for nanoscience and physics students.
Students who compiled the report issued an online survey and found that the average third-year student spent 18 hours on a lab report, taking up many of their evenings after long days filled with classes. Speaking to The University Times, fourth-year medicinal chemistry student Tomás Flanigan said that, while the workload was high, “some people manage alright”. However, he admitted that the school doesn’t “budget for 18 hours” to do a lab report even though “it does take that long”. While he said he didn’t experience excessive stress, he conceded that the lab work was “pressure-inducing”.
Speaking to The University Times, final-year chemistry student Nathan McCormack described the lab reports as “inconsistent” throughout the year: “You could do pretty much the same standard as you did the week before but get a different grade… it was just confusing really.”
Third-year chemistry students are not permitted to sit supplementals, putting huge pressure on them to pass the year in order to progress and finish their degree.
Students complained of too much emphasis on third-year grades, with the year currently worth 35 per cent of their final grade in their degrees. The weighting of final degree grades varies widely between courses, with some courses taking 50 per cent from each of the final two years and others taking only the grades from final year. This is set to change under the Trinity Education Project, which will streamline how departments calculate final degree grades such that third year will be worth 30 per cent and final year will be worth 70.
The run-up to exams is particularly stressful for students, given how little time they have to study during the week while trying to complete lab reports. On top of this, students reported that the exams ended up deviating from the lecture material and were inconsistent with the sample exam papers distributed to them.
One of the respondents of the survey stated that “the exams at the end of the year were not a fair judge as to the work that was put in during the year attending lectures and labs”.
McCormack described the exam period and the time leading up to it as a “nightmare”: “Finding the time to study was a big deal and most of us were cramming right up to a minute before the exam had started.” He stated that a few of his classmates would stay up until 5am or 6am after studying from 9am the previous morning, with this routine starting as early as two weeks before the exams started.
The results of the survey revealed that all of these academic pressures compound the mental health problems faced by students.
The survey revealed the gravity of some students’ mental health difficulties as a result of the year, with one respondent stating: “JS year has been an incredibly stressful year and detrimental to my mental health. I’ve had to go to my tutor, SLD and student counselling services this year because of it. I very seriously considered dropping out because of the stress.” Another described their struggles throughout the year: “I developed anxiety as a direct result of this year. I struggled sleeping and eating during trinity term and developed a rash directly from stress. There was a number of times that I threw up from stress and worry of exams.”
In an email statement to The University Times, responding to the students’ complaints, the Head of the School of Chemistry, Prof Mike Lyons, stated that the school “takes the mental and physical health of the student body very seriously”.
Although Lyons asserted that “at all times the School attempts to address any concerns expressed within the existing School channels available”, student statements did not reflect this openness to address concerns. McCormack told The University Times: “You’d ask for help and sometimes it would just fall on deaf ears. The chemistry department, it just hasn’t been a great place for student support.”
Lyons was elected in May and spoke to The University Times earlier this month about his role, stating that he was still in “a honeymoon period” of his tenure. He had a positive outlook for the future of the school: “The School, like Trinity as a whole, has come through some very challenging times, but has adapted and has managed to keep the academic integrity of its educational provision intact. The School will respond to the opportunities offered by the forthcoming Trinity Education Project and engage fully with the initiative.”
The report noted some student suggestions of how the school could take some of the pressure off students, suggesting allowing supplementals in third year, putting less weight on third year for the final grade, providing more choice in exam papers and reducing the number of lab reports in favour of other forms of assessment.
The Trinity Education Project, which is a college-wide redesign of the academic curriculum, will go some way to addressing these concerns. The project will also look to diversify continuous assessment.
While many students would welcome these changes, others were more pessimistic, with one respondent to the survey saying: “I don’t think anything can be done about that without restructuring the entire course.”
In an interview with The University Times, master’s student and former chemistry undergraduate Dónal Ring said: “It’s stressful. I found it stressful but I didn’t find that I couldn’t cope with anything.” However, he said there were some people who found it very stressful and his classmates did pass on their frustrations to the school through feedback surveys.
McCormack stated: “I understand that college is supposed to be independent learning but it just seemed that if you had any problems, it was really difficult to get any sort of support or any extra questions in.”
Summing up his experience in the School of Chemistry, McCormack said: “They didn’t really care about the people sitting in front of them who could possibly be a part of their research group some day.”
According to Lyons, students were encouraged to compile a report by chemistry staff after the school struggled to get feedback through online polls. He said that the report was discussed at the Student Liaison Committee and later at the Teaching Committee in June. Following these discussions, he said that “the concerns of the students expressed in the report will be progressed within the governance structure of the School”.
