Recently, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School has revised its final exams schedule. Despite opposition by  many constituent members of the school body, these changes have persisted. The new schedule will take place over the course of two weeks, in contrast to the former single week, and instead of having days set aside specifically for exams, students will be attending school as if it were a normal day and taking their final during the period in which they would normally have their class. 

This new setup not only forces students to compromise for what they feel is more important – a weighted exam or their homework, which has been indicated will continue as per usual throughout the exam period, but also places a vast amount of stress since the exam will be split into two parts and will not have a sense of finality until the end of the extended period. This will potentially cause confusion and disorganization - neither being conducive to a school-wide two week long testing period.

The timing is also askew to concrete plans, directly conflicting with the senior trip, which is wedged right between exam weeks. This will hamper seniors and will provide most involved LaGuardians with very little time to prepare between exams. Due to the finals weeks now being treated as if it were a regular school day, students will also be in school for hours longer than previous schedules. This arbitrary switch will provide less time to study for the next day’s exams, and the student body will inevitably perform more poorly than on previous finals. 

Finals are already stressful. The previous schedule permitted everyone a chance to test and be relieved of the ineluctable exam anxiety, but the new schedule will distract students from the classes that will be going on during the day. It is also a known fact that students – especially those who have classes on upper or lower floors – have a difficult time getting to certain classes on time thanks to the bare four minutes allotted between classes, compared to the previous finals’ 10 minute breaks between each test, allowing a touch-base before the next exam. 

Students are not the only ones who will be feeling the heat; teachers will have even more work to both create and grade. As quoted by one educator, “It’s going to be a nightmare.” This newfound method of administering finals will place students and teachers under an even greater weight, leading to neglect of both already poor physical and mental student health.

The amount of strain being placed on the student and teacher population of LaGuardia is highly unnecessary, and we, the undersigned, implore the administration to change the schedule to minimize pressure.