Six million.
That is how many students in America are learning online this school year. This means six million students are going to be taking their finals from home.
In March, schools across the country shut down due to COVID-19, and many are continuing their schooling online. In a normal school year, the beginning of December is when students begin taking their finals; this year is no different. As the winter season approaches, Carlmont students and teachers alike are starting to prepare for the upcoming tests.
“I think it’s going to be more difficult to prepare for it because it has been harder to do school from home,” said Mia Davies, a sophomore.
Like many of her peers, Davies is not looking forward to taking finals.
“I’m not a good test taker,” Davies said. “For me, tests are very stressful because they are worth so much of our grade.”
Normally, Davies prepares for her finals by using flashcards and studying with her friends. However, she said that she could not do the same thing this year due to social distancing. On the flip side, sophomore Ryan Consani said they feel better than usual about taking finals.
“I study by reviewing the material over and over again, and I’m going to do the same thing this year,” Consani said. “I feel like the finals this year will be easier because the teachers aren’t giving us as much work, so they will have to change the formatting of their test,”
Teachers are experiencing the same feelings students are towards finals.
“Online tests kind of suck because I don’t feel like I can monitor everything, and a long test is just too torturous for students and teachers to sit through,” said Ramtin Aidi, a geometry teacher.
Even before distance learning, Aidi felt like final exams were a disservice to students with higher grades because if they don’t score higher than their test average, their grades will drop. However, because of distance learning, Aidi has changed his curriculum and the structure of his final in hopes of relieving student stress.
“I’m still a little worried going into it,” Consani said. “But last year, finals were not nearly as bad as I thought they were going to be, so I’m trying not to stress over it.”
Overall, finals are a stressful time for everyone, with or without a pandemic. However, this year may be worse for some due to distance learning and the added pressure from a tough year.
“If we all find finals to be a pain … and we don’t think it’s that meaningful, why do we keep giving them?” Aidi said.
