The final exam schedule has been completely redone for this school year. Rather than students taking finals according to what period they have a given class, final exams will be administered by subject.

In addition to changing the exam schedule, final exams will not be administered by the teachers that teach the given course. For example, a geometry final could be administered by a Spanish teacher or a global studies exam could be proctored by a P.E. teacher. Students also won’t report to their regular classroom for final exams, they’ll be assigned to a random room throughout the building.

There were two main reasons behind the change in schedule: spreading out the common core (i.e. math, science, English) and improving test security.

“By doing [exams] by periods, what we lost was a lot of test security,” principal Ryan McTague said. “We want to make sure that students have the opportunity to really demonstrate what they’ve learned in the course and do that in a way that’s going to promote the integrity of the test […] and allow us to get really reliable and valid data.”

McTague also noted that with the old final exam schedule there were many students that had to take exams for their core classes all on one day. “Now we have our core spread out […] so hopefully that’s going to assist our students when they go to study and prepare for finals.”

Though the shift was made to help students, many are finding the new schedule to be more of a hindrance.

“It’s a lot more confusing,” senior Michelle Scaunas said of the new final exam paradigm. “Before you went by period and knew you had that certain class with your own teacher and normal classroom. Now it’s new times and rooms and teachers– it’s just confusing.”

Some students, like junior Noah Zeidman, are having difficulty scheduling their finals. “I’m in two math courses and had to reschedule one,” he said. Zeidman is also enrolled in several fine arts courses which were not designated time on the new finals schedule. “Myself and several others all have to come in to take a choir performance final. […] Our schedules and conflicts are all slightly different so finding a common time to go in is difficult.”

Senior Stephen Jan doesn’t have any issues with scheduling, but he takes issue with the fact that teachers will not proctor their own exams. “If there are any flaws on the exam […] we can only sit there and hope our teacher will notice [later] and either curve [the exam] or omit the question.”

Jan also felt that separating teachers from their students and their exams showed that the administration not only doesn’t trust students, but that they don’t entirely trust teachers either. “Almost all of my teachers are annoyed by it,” he said.

Asisstant principal Keith Robinson said that the response he’s gotten from teachers “hasn’t been overwhelmingly positive or negative.” In response to Jan’s concerns about having a different teacher during final exams, “if it’s a common exam, it shouldn’t make a difference which teacher proctors which class.”

Final exams for the first semester take place Tuesday, Jan. 15-Thursday, Jan. 17. If students have conflicting exams on their schedule, they are to report Ms. Kreusch or Ms. Shemroske in the main office for rescheduling. To view the new final exam schedule as well as the special bus schedule for exam days, click here.