As it comes to the conclusion of another school year, the dreaded finals week is coming up. Throughout this week, the long extravaganza of test after test can seem daunting to any student, but the schedule KO uses does actually help relieve some of the stress kids feel during this time.
Finals occur on the week after Memorial Day weekend, spanning from Tuesday to Friday. The days prior in classes before the weekend are dedicated to heavy review of the second semester material, preparing students for the last big assessment in their classes. This may sound awful to some, but to be honest, finals are not that bad. Although most students would take the opportunity not to take these tests, you’re going to have to, so you might as well think of all the amenities that come along with this week.
By far, the best thing about final week is “The Zone.” This is an all-out free food fest run by the Parent Association inside the lobby of Roberts. In the morning, there are donuts, bagels, and muffins for students with an early exam, who may have not had enough time to have breakfast earlier. Later in the day, they bring out a variety of snacks like chips, Snapples, and cookies. There’s nothing better than a free donut right before an exam or a bagel as you head home after your exam.
This is another benefit of exam week. Let’s say you only have one exam that day from 8:00 to 9:15. After that time frame, you can leave school, which gives you time to relax and to study for the next one. This also works the other way around: if you were to have a later exam you wouldn’t have to be on campus until 15 minutes before it starts, and you can leave right after. For me, and along with many other students, there is only one exam each day, excluding the English 4 essay being due on the same day as science finals. This alleviates a lot of the stress of having to study for two finals on the same day.
There’s also the benefit of an open campus and being able to come and go as you wish. However, there is one problem: if someone were to have a morning and a later afternoon exam, they are supposed to stay on campus for the time in between the two. Even though this may sound like an inconvenience, it is just the school looking out for students and ensuring that they do not miss their second exam.
Exam week can be a very stressful time for students, especially for those who do not test well. This is a common occurrence, where students are smart, but struggle in test-taking environments, or with studying in general. Some of this stress is alleviated with the entire previous week being dedicated to review. If someone struggles in the atmosphere of tests, exams may be something that no amount of free food or leniency can improve. However, the teachers still try and do the absolute most to ensure students will do well on their exams. The review week before helps to refresh your memory from earlier in the semester, and to hammer in the information that you’ve just learned. In class teachers give their students a variety of ways to review the material. These activities usually include Kahoots, Quizlet Lives, basic review packets, and a question-answer day for any remaining confusion. Teachers usually do not want you to fail their exams, and they try to make sure that you have the resources and information that you will need for their tests.
The final cherry on top for this week is that students may dress down. Every KO Upper School student can agree that we do not receive enough dress down days, so these four days that are all dress down is something that can make any student feel more comfortable. Wearing shorts and a t-shirt to school makes you feel like a whole new person, and helps you focus more on the tests.
Exam week is something many students dread, but it’s merely four days of finality before the anticipated summer break. What KO provides its students with and the schedule that they have in place also makes it feel like it goes by in a flash.
Before you know it, you can catch yourself tanning on the beach while drinking a pink lemonade and being able to completely forget about the stress of school until the next fall.
