Every Schreiber student is undeniably aware of how stressful high school can become.  When that rigorous AP class gives you a test the same night that your English teacher assigns a 5-page essay.  When you get home from a long practice at 6 p.m. and have to study for a math quiz, physics test, and Latin test that all conveniently happened to be placed on the same day. 

The concept of being given numerous heavily-weighted exams or quizzes on the same day seems to be a common theme in our high school.  As if whatever it is that students are doing in Physics C isn’t hard enough, now they have to balance that test with that of another AP class. 

Because this happens so often, the student body is left utterly perplexed. If our administration wants us to do our best, why assign tests on the same day?  If teachers simply want their students to succeed, why don’t they help students by being aware of assignments going on in other classes? 

“I’ve had cases where multiple teachers assigned tests on the same day.  To learn and understand topics from multiple disciplines, all over the same time period, is extremely frustrating and difficult,” said senior A.J. Siciliano.

There are many arguments that rebuttal the cry for a more organized testing schedule. For instance, the common response is “manage your time better.” 

The raw truth in regards to this impossible solution is that we are students.  We are trying our best to find the proper and unique balance of school, hobbies, friends, and mental stability.  So to simply dismiss the issue by faulting the students is an escape route.  How can we be expected to simultaneously juggle volunteer work with sports teams, whilst also balancing our school workload?

Not to mention that if our administration truly cared about the ways in which students manage their time, why not teach it as a class?  If this is some necessary life skill that will somehow single handedly abolish the issue of having multiple tests on one day, it should definitely be implemented in our curriculum.

“I think that time management is definitely very important, but it’s not going to fix having five tests on one day.  The only way to truly fix this would be to designate certain subjects to test on certain days,” said junior Ella Penson.

Another argument is that this seemingly hectic and jam-packed school experience is simply preparing us for the real world.  If you visit any campus in the United States, they will most certainly tell you otherwise.  For starters, Schreiber students can take up to nine classes, which is drastically more than the four to five classes taken by a college student.  Also, in college, classes occur two times a week, as opposed to the every-other-day schedule of our classes.  

Not to mention that for more-important exams, such as finals and midterms, college students have weeks off, during which they are given time off from classes to study.

So, not only are there less classes in the so-called “real world,” but students are also given more time to do all the work for these classes. 

“I think that designated test days would really help everyone in this school.  Not only would it help my grades, but also it would decrease my stress,” said senior Nick Kapoor.

Ironically enough, the solution has already been found and we may just be able to fix this issue that affects every student in our community.

In order to do so, we must follow the actions of Roslyn High School and Manhasset High School.  These high schools have implemented a strict testing schedule that restricts the school to assign more than three tests on a given day.  Considering that Schreiber students currently have up to four exams a day, this would definitely make a positive change for our students. 

Roslyn High School’s system would work quite nicely in our school since they also work off of a six-day cycle.  On each day, only three subjects are allowed to give tests.  For example, on day one, only English, science, and elective classes will be allowed to schedule any sort of test or quiz.

“Roslyn teachers usually listen to student feedback if there happen to be a lot of overlapping tests,” said an anonymous senior from Roslyn High School. 

Teachers, faculty, administrators, we implore you to understand how difficult it truly is to juggle everything that there is to do in high school.  With that, it should be taken into account the dramatic effects that will come with this testing schedule.  Students’ stress levels will go down and test grades will improve, there is no doubt in that.  And in order to achieve said results, creating a strict and organized testing schedule is the most obvious and definitive way to go.