As 2011 wound down to a close, Pine Crest students and faculty looked forward to the time of the year filled with holiday fun, family time, and pure relaxation. However, before everyone can put school aside for the remainder of the year, they dread one last challenge academically: semester exams.  Semester exams consist of tons of studying, a lot of cramming, stress, and sleep deprivation. Bottom line, these tests are no fun for anybody, but they are a vital necessity.   This past December, the PC administration gave the exam a new twist, with the schedule being divided between two weeks.  While the semester exam schedule change may seem like a minor factor, it has caused much controversy among the students at the Pine.

 In previous years, an entire week had been designated for exams.  This system allowed a week of review prior to exam week as well as a weekend designed especially for studying in order to prepare for exams.  This schedule seemed to mesh well with students at the Pine, as they were given ample time to study, exams were spread out throughout the week, and students had nothing but vacation to look forward to as the work-packed week ended.

This year, PC decided to take a controversial and unwarranted change to the exam schedule.  While much of the scheduling was influenced by the time holidays fell this year, the change has been seen as both positive and negative in the eyes of the students.  In the new system, exams were split up between two academic school weeks, beginning on a Thursday and ending on a Wednesday.  A weekend in between the exam
schedule allowed a brief break from school, but mainly offered more time to prepare and study.

After asking some of my fellow students their opinion, the overall consensus of the poll displayed that the Pine was divided on the issue.  While some students preferred the old schedule better, others argue that the new one was advantageous to their studying. AJ Felberbaum, Zachary Kahan, and Nick Schaffer shared that they prefer the new schedule better because of the weekend in between their exams.  It allowed them time to divide their studying up for their exams rather than cram all of their studying in one weekend.  Other students, such as Brian Tighe and Max Budney preferred the old exam schedule better. Brian argued that
the old schedule was better because there was more review time in his classes. The old system allowed a week of review in advance to exam week, while some teachers taught new information until the last possible minute with the new schedule.  Max Budney and other students complained that the new exam schedule shortened the duration of Winter Break by a few days.  The weekend in between exams and a couple of days in the second week of the new schedule made this year’s winter vacation slightly shorter than last year’s break.

Although the Pine can argue over the complication of the exam schedule and its affect on studying, exam week will never be found easy.  Who knows how the schedule will fall next year, but maybe your opinion will impact the future.  So what do you think?