Exam Schedules: Beneficial to Students?
Photo from Pexels by Louis Bauer
Emmy Schmidt
With semester-one exams wrapping up, the topic of exam schedules—or lack thereof—has resurfaced. To gather the opinions of my Hamilton High School peers, I posed several questions in a survey to collect data and viewpoints on Hamilton’s exam schedule. The survey was shared with a large group of junior and senior students at HHS who had experienced different exam schedules over their years and would be able to provide valuable insight.
Along with survey responses, I spoke to fellow HHS students and teachers/staff. The answers provided gave valuable insight into the student body’s opinion and highlighted many thought-provoking points. There were a few things commonly mentioned in the free-response questions: stress levels, multiple-day exams, pros and cons for teachers, and college exam preparation.
In the past few years, Hamilton has had two exam schedules. One included a half-day schedule with two exams each day with the other being no exam schedule at all. Both schedules have pros and cons, and student feedback adequately discusses both sides. For the 2024-25 school year, teachers were asked to administer the hardest portions of their exams on specific days to hopefully prevent overlap.
Stress levels were easily the most commented-on issue by HHS students—especially regarding the 2023-24 school year, which did not implement a final exam schedule either semester. In response to the 2023-24 exams, many students reported having at least three exams in one day, and an alarming amount stated that all four of their semester exams fell on the same day or days. Many students shared that this led to increased stress and burnout. However, a minority of students only had one or two exams each day and saw no issues regarding stress.
From personal experience, I had three exams on the final day of semester one, including Chemistry Honors, Advanced Algebra, and 20th Century US History. Separately, each of these classes were fine, but all on the same day, I did find myself more stressed than usual and got significantly less sleep due to wanting extra study hours. Conversely, in my second-semester classes, I never had more than two finals in one day and felt nearly no stress when it came to finals week.
Some key comments from surveyed HHS juniors and seniors were:
“Please please please bring back the old schedule. I felt so drained the whole week last year because all of my finals were multiple days long. Basically, I had 4 tests everyday for 3 days. This plus extracurriculars was very very draining, and I feel my scores were negatively impacted.”
“Taking potentially 4 exams in a row leads to essentially 7.5 hours of testing with only minimal breaks. This gives no transition time from test to test and leads to burnout near the end of the day. Also, this is essentially longer and more rigorous testing than the ACT. There is also the stress of having no retakes. These situations and stakes make exams even worse for students than they already are.”
These quotes provide insight into a portion of the HHS student opinions but specifically the upperclassmen as that is who responded to the poll. This could reflect a minority data pool, but it was a trend throughout the responses received.
The survey also included a free-response question about the effects of an exam schedule on teachers, and many of my peers left very intriguing points about scheduled exams potentially offering extra time for teachers to grade final assignments in between administering exams and how some teachers may be able to use extra time to prepare for the new semester. Additionally, I spoke with several of my teachers about their thoughts and opinions regarding exam scheduling.
Ms. Wainio provided her thoughts on exam schedules, and she made very relevant points. She states, “I prefer the original exam schedule, having one day dedicated to Blocks 1 & 2 and the following day for Blocks 3 & 4 (with the afternoon off for students). It is most similar to a college exam day, allowing students to prepare adequately and giving teachers extra grading time.”
Another Hamilton teacher shared: “I think I should say first that I am a believer in an exam. I think it is important for all students (even ones not going to college) to have practice with high stakes tests and preparing for something that carries a lot of weight.” This staff member also explained, “In the past when we had half days and only two exams a day, students didn't get bombarded on one day, but it did reduce our in-classroom time plus some classes didn't give out a traditional exam. This new schedule doesn't impact classroom time since classes still meet like normal and does help reduce the number of exams a student has in one day.”
Also, I received a comment from Ms. LaBlanc who stated, “I'm glad this year we are instituting specific days for taking our exams this year. Last year, too many students had to take all their finals on the same day, which was a lot. As for myself, while I enjoyed the half-day schedule, I understand why it had to end. As long as teachers are giving finals on the directed days, I don't see a problem with full days on the last two days of semester 1.”
Some key student comments on this included:
“I think the half-day schedule will give teachers more time to grade our finals. This would help them feel less stressed too.”
“Teachers would have a better way to plan their exams if they're given a set day to have the exam.”
“[Having a final exam schedule would be] less stressful, much easier to grade, [and] much easier to separate various sections of tests.”
“It would be easier for teachers to grade exams with an exam schedule that spans over a few days.”
Taking the teacher-focused perspective is interesting because typically when you think about who an exam schedule affects, you think of the students taking the exams rather than the teacher proctoring them. The teacher aspect is very important to consider because of the necessity of teachers to take exams! Without teachers, there is no way to take or receive a score on an exam.
On the topic of proctoring exams, having multiple-day exams was a very frequently brought-up issue amongst students. Specifically, with the half-day exam schedule, teachers who needed multiple days to administer an exam were left with minimal choice on how to proctor them. However, given the current recommended schedule of blocks 1 and 2 giving exams on Thursday and blocks 3 and 4 giving exams on Friday, multiple day exams are still not accounted for, potentially leading to exam overlap between blocks. This poses the question: With no clear exam schedule, how do the HHS teachers give these exams without scheduled days to do so?
A poll was included about how multiple-day exams should be administered in the event of an exam schedule, and students voted as follows:
26.8% said to leave the finals unchanged and vary their proctoring by class or department.
57.1% stated that the finals schedule should be adjusted accordingly, accommodating classes that need extra days.
21.4% of students claimed that multi-day finals should be simplified down to one day.
And 7.2% of my peers left their own ideas about administering longer exams, some of which included…
“Sectioned days for 1st & 2nd and 3rd & 4th.” (Implying each block is given one day of the week to test all sections of the exam as needed.)
Another individual stated, “I think if it's an AP class, then the teacher should be able to administer the final like a college final. so maybe the kids should have more time. Otherwise, the teachers can split tests up among multiple days. Splitting the test up over days allows students to study in between in case they don't feel confident about a concept on the first day.”
This is also a crucial consideration, especially because students with a more rigorous class load (which was the general consensus of polled students) may not be able to adequately manage their time, and final grades could potentially suffer.
College exams were very frequently referenced in the free-response questions, and with the demographic of the survey participants, it makes sense. The majority of upperclassmen have college and their futures at the forefront of their minds, and exams can be a make or break for grades and inevitably, colleges. The majority of Hamilton students go on to a college education, so the number of students who will experience college exams eventually is very high. Typical college exams may be proctored over multiple days or have an exam block that is multiple hours long. Some students and teachers argue that having an exam schedule is excellent preparation for college exams, especially considering the vast majority of HHS students will continue down that route. However, based on what school you may go to, the exams and their schedules could vary.
Looking at numerical data, there were some compelling statistics.
When asked how exam scores from last year compared to years prior, 55% of students answered that their scores were comparable, 41% said their scores dropped, and 4% stated their scores rose. This question compared a two-day exam schedule to having no exam schedule. On a scale of one to five for exam preparation done in class before exams, one being little to non and five being extreme preparation, the results were as follows:
When asked about the level of personal preparation before exams on the same five-point scale, students answered:
I also asked students if they believed their preparation was reflective of the exam scores they received, and 82% said yes while 16% said no. I found exam preparation to be relevant to the topic of exam schedules because with the addition of an exam schedule, students could have more, or potentially less, exam preparation time. With the two-day schedule, there were empty afternoons to dedicate to studying, whereas having no schedule provided after-school and in-class opportunities depending on where your exams fell.
The question with the largest majority answer was titled, “How do you feel your scores would differ with the addition of an exam schedule?” It warranted the response of 87.5% of students voting that scores would increase, 8.9% of students voting that an exam schedule would not affect scores, and 3.6% of students voting that scores would decrease. I think this response very strongly conveys students' opinions and shows the preferred exam schedule of the student body. However, there are always outside factors to consider, and student opinions may not always be what is best for everyone, teachers and administrators especially.
While the new exam schedule was built with an intent to help students, it's proving to be detrimental for learning and limits the success of students. If Hamilton High School truly wants to provide the most beneficial learning environment, they need to consider student and teacher opinions alike, and implement an exam schedule.
