Final Exam Changes

The beginning of December is stressful: final exams, summatives, and end of semester projects are bombarding high schoolers and their lives. This year, AISG is about to make final exams slightly better (or, in the seniors’ case, a lot better) for the students.

Unlike the years before, AISG decided to have one test each day except for one day for freshmen and sophomores, two days with two tests and two days with one test for juniors, and no tests for seniors as an aid to release stress. As Mr. Tragert said, “the changes made this year are to release stress for seniors since they are already preoccupied with EE, TOK, IA, and mock exams that are coming up a month after the final exam. There is no point to adding another exam on top of that.” Furthermore, the school decided to spread the tests across 4 days instead of 3 days so, as Mr. Tragert stated, “students can be less stressed about multiple exams on one day.”

Students are also very satisfied with the exam schedule. Kathleen Huang, a sophomore, was delighted to hear about the changes. She responded to the question regarding her thoughts with “at least I don’t have to cram materials from two subjects in one night.” Bonny Chuang, a junior, also mentioned that she “didn’t like taking exams in the morning and afternoon, two days of rest in the afternoon will probably feel pretty nice.” Seniors are, obviously, thrilled by the idea of having no exams.

Other reasons for the exam changes, as listed by Mr. Tragert are that “we can give the gym back to the PE department, give seniors TOK presentation time, and create a better environment for the students” because a lot of students have complained about the gym being “too cold.” This year, the exams will take place in the theater in hopes that the new environment change will be more inviting to the students taking the exams.

The responses students have to the environment change for exams are rather negative. Jason Pan, a sophomore, is very concerned about taking the exams in the theater. He thinks that his “shoulder will hurt roughly after 10 minutes of strenuous writing because the tables in the theater are too small and will provide zero support for the arm.”

“This is just a trial, the feedbacks after the exams will help us determine whether we should keep this change or not,” concluded Mr. Tragert. Even though there are many views regarding the final exam changes, it is not until after the exams that we will know if the changes are for better or for worse.

Read Sohum and Daniel‘s articles for more insight into the major exam location change.