The end of the semester is a very rushed time frame for most upperclassmen across America, filled with many upcoming deadlines and assignments to be completed.

The exams are standardized tests that are taken at the end of each semester over all the material you have learned for that semester only. Typically, each student will have at least one exam per class. Although, if a student is lucky, they may catch a break and not have to take one for a certain class, but usually that isn’t the case.

Testing will begin on Jan.23, and go all the way through the 25 of that same week.

Testing days will also be half days, so each upperclassman student will be let out early, at 10:22 a.m. specifically. There will be two exams a day, and afterward, the students will be free after that to spend the rest of their day however they may choose.

In addition to limited the number of exams to two per day, the half days also provide extra time to study.

“I like going home early on the half day to study more,” junior Katherine Phillips said. “Plus the regular time after school helps  by giving me more time to prepare.”

The beginning of exam week has some students happy or apprehensive.

Due to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day being the Monday before exams, students have the day off school because it is a national holiday.

“I’m glad we have it off,” junior Regina Araujo-Pedroza said. “I need a day to rest before exams.”

These exams do have importance, even though students may not agree with that.

“I think exams are important because they serve as an overall view of what we learned over the entire semester,” sophomore Caitlyn Wagner said. “These exams also impact our grades greatly, so all students should aim for a good grade.”

Depending on whether a student excels on an exam or not, counselors may see these scores and recommend a student to take a more advanced course, or maybe a less advanced course, depending on results.

Along with these tests, there is a whopping twenty percent influence to your overall grade.

“I think it’s a valuable tool for the the final assessment,” teachers Yvonne Sawyers-Swanson said.

There are study groups, tutors, etc. that can better further your knowledge on the material enough to help students on tests.

“Tutors are a great tool because they allow us to go over anything we didn’t understand in the current semester,” sophomore Wagner said. “Sometimes we learn better from our peers, ‘tutors’ because they are students just like us. These tutors will help us achieve a good grade in the end.”

To help students have enough time to prepare, most teachers give out exam reviews out a week or two in advance prior to exam dates.

“I think that it’s most beneficial if the teachers give the exam reviews two weeks before the actual exam,  junior Kayla Thorne said. “It gives the students time to evaluate what they don’t know, and improve on it before the actual test.”

Along with upperclassman, the question arises with middle schools partaking in exams.

“No, not at all because technically their grades don’t matter that much anyway,” junior Megan Hanoush said. “They should not be stressed at a young age.”  

Each school year, these tests are taken twice a year. The first set is taken after the first semester is over, and the second half is taken at the end of the second semester. Along with trying to study and cram in those final assignments, for some, there is stress that is accompanied with this.