During this school year, the Abington School District decided to implement a change to the schedule for our midterm exams, which gathered a wide breadth of opinions from students. The new schedule consisted of students taking a maximum of three midterms per day, while also being granted a 105-minute period to complete each test. Furthermore, students were allowed to come to school late if they did not have a midterm in the first period, while also being able to leave school early if they did not have a midterm in the last period.
Sophomore Lena Bowman was pleased with this new change of “having the option of not going into school if you didn’t have midterms that day and also having the option of leaving early or coming in later depending on the periods that day and your schedule.” Another sophomore, Emma Fantini, shared the same opinion and stated that she “liked how we could come in late and leave whenever we were done. I think it was a good schedule and they should do it again.” Personally, I appreciated the way the schedule was organized since the freedom granted to us allowed me to miss school on the last day of midterms because I didn’t have any other exams to take. Amani Berry, a sophomore, agreed with me in this regard, “I liked that we could just leave or come late if we didn’t have a midterm for a block. It was good that they were set for a certain time, instead of being in the middle of a school day and still going to other classes.”
A lot of students were also satisfied with the fact that they were only required to stay in the testing room for 80 minutes and then had a potential extra 25 minutes to talk with friends until the next midterm or lunch period. This shows the freedom students had during midterms; they could leave their classrooms after 80 minutes, but also had 25 more minutes to finish an exam if needed. However, some students were annoyed that they could not leave their exam before the 80-minute mark, even if they finished early.
In addition, the lunches followed a similar block schedule and were treated as “open-campus” by many students, allowing them to go in and out of the school. This was one of the changes that was overwhelmingly appreciated by many students. Sarah Oleary, a sophomore, cherished her lunches, “I liked the long lunch break in-between because it gave me time to study for the next midterm but also time to socialize with friends.” Many students shared her opinion but also felt that the hour-and-a-half lunch was too long and was placed awkwardly in the day. Cathy Sementhy, a sophomore, said, “I loved how we had a lunch and learn! I thought it was really nice because we got to meet up to study with our friends but also get help if needed. I didn’t like how the first block and the second block were right after each other. I think they should’ve taken some time off the lunch and learn and put it in between those two blocks for a small mental break or help.” Another important aspect of this new midterm schedule was that teachers and school officials weren’t scouring for students who, for example, were not present in their designated exam, which brought along a new feeling of independence and responsibility. Students needed to know their schedules and whether they had a test or not that day because if they decided not to show up, they were still required to make up the test they missed. Sophomore Allison Mulcahy mentioned another great aspect of the schedule. She said that she “liked the fact that they had buses available to take you home or take you to school late.”
While many students clearly benefited from and loved the schedule, Taylor Shore, a sophomore, had a different stance on the matter, “The midterm schedule was stressful and anxiety-inducing… as expected,” she stated, “I honestly wish it was organized to have specific days per subject, considering the fact that I had three core class midterms in only one school day. I was extremely happy to be done with them quickly but the workload would have been a lot less if there were designated social studies days, science days, etc, etc.” I empathize with her because although it was nice to have a day where I didn’t have to come into school at all, I had a day with three midterms and they were all for core subjects: two of which tested me on my most challenging classes. Sophomore Liz Tanis agreed with me that the midterm schedule included both benefits and drawbacks, “It was inconvenient sometimes because I had tests back-to-back but that’s just because of how my schedule worked out. However, the open campus was good. I’m glad they didn’t make us stay in school.” Nevertheless, even though some students expressed disapproval of certain aspects of the schedule, the wide sentiment is that students love the way Abington organized our midterm schedule and hope for a similar set-up during finals later in the year.