The problem with high school exams

Why exams should be before winter break

Photo Credit: Nick McCabe

As schools are in the midst of trying to slim down on the length of breaks and heading towards a balanced, year-round calendar, it does not make much sense to schedule final exams right after a two week break. In most cases, kids will not study over the holiday break and information will be lost causing overall scores to fall.

Most college kids will tell you that they are excited to start their winter break and are excited to use the two weeks to relax and rejuvenate. Meanwhile, high school students are doing the complete opposite—procrastinating working on that exam study guide until the Sunday night before school. They cram as much studying as they can during the couple of nights before they go back just to begin exams.

It’s a no-brainer that students just want to finish up the semester right before break and get things over with, then enjoy a two week long break instead of the other way around.

It is a given that kids are not going to spend their entire two weeks studying, especially with the amount of holidays within the break. Additionally, if other high schools and most colleges in America can take exams before holiday break, then it shouldn't be that difficult of a change - whether that means changing the exams or just shortening the term. The focus should lean towards what is more comfortable for everyone.

Ask any kid in school: exam week is one of the most stressful periods for a student and to make things more complicated and difficult makes little to no sense to me. The wiser solution would be to change the scheduling of exams to the classic schedule of having exams before the winter break. By doing this, the school could start second semester right after break and teachers wouldn’t have to re-teach the entire course.