The holiday season is quickly approaching, but it isn’t time to relax yet for Nazareth students, since Christmas comes after exams for us this year. For the longest time, Nazareth has had mid-term exams after Christmas Break, but this year, that isn’t so. This year, finals are from Dec. 21 to Dec. 23 as opposed to Jan. 12 to Jan. 14. Because of this, break doesn’t start until the day before Christmas Eve this year, which seems to be a cause of some resentment to the finals schedule by students.
Now that finals are before break, students have to find time to study on regular school nights where they have additional homework to worry about, which creates more stress than if the students could study over break with no other schoolwork to worry about. On the other hand, having finals before break leads to a stress-free vacation, during which students can really relax without the worries of having to study for finals.
Junior Molly Meehan stated, “I love the idea of having finals before Christmas Break because it lets me relax over break. When I come back from break, it’s like having a fresh start!”
Junior Maura Chaps agreed, saying, “I like having them before because then we don’t have to study during Christmas Break.”
Mrs. Hawkins, Nazareth Student Activities Director, stated the reasons that the finals schedule was changed due to student and parent desire, and also to allow Christmas Break be a real break for students. The administration agreed that it would be more favorable to students if finals were before break, so the change was made.
Not all teachers and students are happy with the change, however. Since finals are earlier this year than in previous years, teachers had to adjust their lesson plans to ensure all the material was taught in time for the final. The result of this is frequent tests and quizzes in nearly every subject as the end of the semester approaches. Needless to say, this element of the new schedule has caused some students to long for the old final exam schedule.
Another student concern with having finals before break is that it eliminates at least two weeks of potential studying time. Although, not all students take advantage of those two weeks to study, some do and ultimately feel more prepared when taking the final. While some feel the new schedule does its minor drawbacks, not too many students seem to be concerned about them since many admit to not studying over break anyway.
With this new schedule for finals comes a different change that will take some getting used to, but the majority of students seem to be happy. Ultimately, this change is beneficial for their education. Finals before break may cause a little extra stress in the next few weeks, but it means a relaxed Christmas Break free of the worries of exams.