By Lauren Nehorai ’20 and Alexandra Mork ’20
When people think of winter, the first things that come to mind are often cold weather, hot chocolate, holidays, family and gifts. But with the second semester approaching, the week leading up to winter break is often filled with assessments. Although some degree of testing is seemingly inevitable, some students prefer the majority of assessments to be before winter break, while others would rather have an extra two weeks to study.
In an online survey sent to middle school students, 89 percent of the 347 respondents preferred to have their tests prior to winter break. Many students feel that winter break is a time for celebration and family, and that the stress of studying would disrupt their plans and time designated for relaxation.
“I’m happy the [majority of our tests] are before [winter break] because the whole point of winter break is to have a break [from school], and I don’t think people would want to study,” Jonah Dickson ’20 said.
In addition to potentially ruining their break, two weeks without school risks students forgetting the information they are tested on.
“It is good to have tests before winter break because you remember the material better than after two weeks of not having class,” Izzy Welsh ’22 said.
Of the students surveyed, 11 percent of the respondents preferred to have tests after the break. Some of these students wished to use the weeks prior to winter break to enjoy themselves and get into the holiday spirit instead of dealing with assessments. Also, the majority of these students would like several extra weeks to study for their exams at leisure.
“The week before [break] we are all focused on the holidays and checked out because we are excited to go on the break. Having tests the week after would enhance the focus level because we have fewer distractions,” India Altchul ’20 said.
