Brianna Yang and Jacob Pharoah

Staff Writer and Co-Editor-in-Chief

If you’ve noticed the posted exam schedules on the walls around school or on our trusted RomanNet, you’ll know that winter exam week is coming to us with a few changes this year. Last year, exams were taken during individual blocks, but this time around there are set exam times on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings for classes that have multiple sections and a traditional exam. For example, students in classes like Global Cities: Power and Creativity or English 10 will take exams during the morning slot and each section will sit it together and not meet during their  scheduled block. For classes without multiple sections, students will simply meet during their scheduled block. Not too complicated so far, right?

Like last year, there will be only two regular blocks per day, but classes will only meet for an hour-and-a-half as opposed to two hours. The reduction in exam time does impact our lunch block, however, as we have an hour for lunch between blocks versus the two hours between blocks last year. This change is likely to generate a myriad of opinions among our student body, as students who like to take their exams and get out of school as soon as possible rejoice and slow eaters feel the burn.

It remains to be seen whether this schedule is beneficial in decreasing stress for students during exam week. The general consensus around Latin is that people like the shorter blocks, which means shorter exams, but dislike the shorter lunch break between blocks. One senior, Yinga Xia, noted that the “common exam time was a good idea,” and many students expressed their delight regarding the late start for regular classes. On the other hand, Hannah Crane, senior, commented that the new schedule is “kind of confusing,” which arguably suggests that an explanation might have been necessary. Although many responses to the change have either been of approval or confusion, some students have voiced their disappointment over the changes in the new schedule. Grace Gardner, sophomore, stated that she “liked last year’s first semester schedule the best.” As you can see, there have already been an array of responses to the change, but one thing can be known for sure: our school is rewriting this part of itself once again to see if it can improve. Admittedly, change can be hard, but I can’t help but feel a degree of respect for our school’s attitude to the revision.