Having exams begin before winter break starts to offer a multitude of benefits for everyone involved.

Picture this: waking up in late December, without anxiety-riddled bones and a constant clenching of the teeth. Why? Because exams for the first semester are through; there is nothing to lose sleep over, to dwell on, or to contemplate your life choices. Relaxation and social events can live in the mind rent-free now. 

That is exactly what people can do now that the school calendar has pushed up the midterm and final dates to occur before winter break. Having this new and improved schedule helps mitigate the stresses of academia in a multitude of ways, and has all sorts of positive effects on student’s and staff’s well-being.

For starters, having exams happen before winter break can benefit students immensely by taking away stress around the holidays and allowing them to spend more time with loved ones. Students should enter winter break feeling the winter spirit and holiday cheer, not the impending doom of creating thousands of flashcards and memorizing content in every class imaginable. Without having to consistently study throughout the break, which can raise panic and pressure, students can unwind and alleviate stress through holiday festivities. 

As for faculty and staff, placing midterms before the break can help teachers manage the period of stress surrounding the review of content and make sure students are well apt to take the exam, which would be over before break starts. As for the grading period, it allows teachers to have additional time to grade thoughtfully. With the extra time given, teachers can also spend more time socializing with friends and spending quality time with loved ones during this festive time of year. 

All in all, the exams taking place before the winter break starts are beneficial and will hopefully be influential for all involved, as well as reinstated for the years to come. 

Having exams after winter break will help students rewind, review, and absorb test material. Therefore, it benefits students more than having them before the holidays. 

The last few weeks before a semester ends is arguably the hardest time for students. Most feel like they are trudging through a deluge of endless schoolwork while also trying to balance studying for unit tests, finishing end-of-quarter projects, as well as holding onto their dignity. This is where the majority of the student body suffers from burnout, which causes sleep loss, fatigue, lack of focus and motivation, and most importantly, decreased academic performance. 

Students may argue that they would rather get exams over with rather than drag them out until after the holiday break, but that just does not make sense. Cramming your head with a whole semester of material on top of everything else teenagers already have to deal with can be detrimental to student’s mental health and motivation. 

Teachers can use the extra time before and during the break to review more material and even offer extra credit for students to complete. Those variables alone can greatly increase motivation, and therefore performance. 

Why would you pass up an extra two weeks to study just so you can sit on your butt more at home? Using days off to your advantage, you can review and relax on your own time so that you can have a clearer head space going into testing. Studies from William Peace University allude to say that a higher sense of self-confidence can lead to higher scores.

Taking final exams before winter break is a terrible idea, and will ultimately cause a decrease in scores for all students.