Dear UNC Chemistry Department,

In light of the COVID pandemic and transition to online learning, the chemistry department has made shifts in their departmental strategy to curb cheating on tests. This has been done by disallowing students to return to a previous page on their exam, shortening the average time allotted per question, not allowing us to know the exact number of questions that will be on the exam before administering the test online, and, most notably, increasing the difficulty level of exams to an unprecedented level.

While these measures are honorable in intention, the unpleasant reality is that many students who do not plan to cheat are being brought down in taking these exams. The general consensus is that while the teaching quality has decreased due to online learning, the test difficulty has increased and does not reflect the difficulty level of previous exams. As a result, this is hindering our grades and crushing our dreams abruptly since many who are taking the class are trying to get accepted into medical school and graduate degree programs. 

As a student body, we are only seeking fairness, justice, and peace for our minds and our souls in knowing that we are being treated with decency as many are not only trying to keep afloat in their coursework, but may have issues in their learning environment and/or health. For these reasons, we ask that you would consider bringing the difficulty level of the exams down to the previous years to better reflect what is being taught in the classroom. We only ask that you would try to see from our perspective and to reconcile some of the hardships that online learning has brought upon this university. Thank you for your time and patience. 

Sincerely,

UNC Chemistry Students