New finals schedule provokes mixed responses

The administration has implemented a new finals schedule this year in which finals week will start on Dec. 19, before winter break, instead of in January. Winter break will now start on Dec. 23, and students will not be burdened by having to study for finals over the holidays.

This shift in schedule resulted in a shorter summer because school started eight days earlier this year. To compensate, however, school will end on June 7, nine days earlier than last year.
The administration’s reasoning, the same for many other schools, was that it reduces the stress of studying for finals over break.

“It would be really nice for students and teachers to be done in December with a real break,” principal Jeff Anderson said. “Both students and teachers could start fresh after the December break. This is something we can control that can help with students’ stress.”

Assistant Brian Safine agrees with Anderson. He believes that students should not have to work over break. “Personally, [I think] students could decompress and re-energize over the break,” said Safine.

Many teachers do not yet have an opinion regarding this shift in schedule, but they are pleased to know that students will not have any concerns over winter break.

Other teachers are dissatisfied about having grades due soon after winter break. Although the deadline for turning in grades has been extended, teachers who like to finish them as soon as possible will have to work harder during the holiday.

Semester classes are also troublesome for teachers since first semester is shorter than second semester and they have to teach the same material.

This shift in schedule was not made in isolation, however. Many schools have made this switch in part because teachers find it more useful to have an extra week of instruction before STAR testing and AP testing.

Despite the reasons for having finals before winter break, many students are still not persuaded. Some still anticipate a more stressful and difficult end of first semester this year.

In the past, having finals after break has given students more time to study. Junior Johnny Chang, for one, is opposed to the idea of having finals before winter break because he prefers having a few extra weeks to study without the added pressures of other homework and school activities.

“[Having finals before break] simply increases the stress during the period prior to finals because of the [lack] of time to study,” Chang said.

Senior Hansen Qian concurs with Chang’s concern over added stress because college applications are due at around the same time as finals, which could negatively impact the quality of the seniors’ applications.

For this reason, the Palo Alto Unified School District decided to keep finals after winter break.

Other students, however, are now comparing first semester finals to those taken in the spring.
“It won’t be hard to get used to the new schedule because we have to cram for spring finals as well,” said sophomore Usha Raman.

One glaring difference between first and second semester finals is that there is no long break between the start of school and finals week.

“It seems like it’s barreling straight through 17 weeks of instruction,” Qian said.

Both students and parents can admit, however, that winter break should not be consumed by studying for finals, but instead be treated as a holiday.

“Having finals before break really makes December break fun because there is no stress,” sophomore Adrian Fong said.

Junior Shayda Roohparvar also appreciates the change because she is not worried about forgetting any material over break.

The abrupt start of second semester after a long sedentary set of two weeks is also unappealing to some students as Chang pointed out. Chang was fond of starting second semester a few weeks after the end of winter break.

Although currently there are mixed opinions about the new finals schedule, students said they will eventually become accustomed to having finals before winter break.

“If you’re not there when the change occurs, you don’t have any incentive to protest,” Qian said.