By: Esther Dai, Natalia Gierlachowski, Afifa Ibnat, Ariana Vernon, Joshua Vieira, Staff Writers
To better align with the new block schedule, a new testing schedule will be enforced starting in mid-September. Teachers are only allowed to administer tests in their subjects’ designated week. Mathematics, social studies, and art are week A. English, classical languages, and health are Week B. Modern languages, science, and music are week C. However, quizzes up to 10 minutes are allowed any calendar day, complying with the old testing schedule.
The testing schedule is designed to accommodate issues that students had in the past, such as having to study for five major exams in one week. In this new proposed plan, teachers are allowed to only give full 50 minute tests in their week, which periodically comes around every three weeks, thus reducing the number of tests a student can have in a given week.
Assistant Principal Veronica York says, “ I support the new schedule… If it alleviates the amount of stress on students, the AP of guidance will support it. I only want it because the students like it.”
SU President, Salima Ali, said, “With the new schedule, students should not be overwhelmed by all their tests piling up at once.” She added, “I know that a problem with it may be because the tests are so spread out there will be more content to study for on tests.” Nevertheless, she ultimately says, “I think this schedule will alleviate the amount of stress on students.”
There is a mix of opinions from students. Junior Pauline Marek said, “In the past, students would encounter two tests from the same class in the span of two weeks, making it harder to focus on other classes. The new system prevents teachers from doing this.” In addition, senior Deborah Kong loves the testing schedule, stating, “Last year, the testing schedule was even and odd days, but I still found myself with 5 tests per week sometimes, or more than one test a day. Now that chance is a lot less likely.” Others find that it can be difficult, down the line. Megan Chen, a senior states, “ The testing schedule is inconvenient because sometimes we will be forced to be tested in the middle of a unit. It makes it more difficult for teachers to plan and they will have to rewrite all their tests. We will also have to study between chapters.” Moreover, students like sophomore Natalie Villacres feel that teachers can find loopholes that allow the schedule to stay similar to last year. “Teachers can assign quizzes any day they prefer, which puts the same pressure on students that they had last year,” she said.
