Revisiting the Examination Policy
by Brittany Kielhurn

According to page 31 of the Cary Academy 2001-2002 Student Handbook, "Exams, tests, quizzes, projects, and papers all form an integral part of the educational process allowing students to demonstrate their mastery of materials and faculty to assess student progress,"-. The Handbook also states, "school policy is that students should not be required to take more than two tests or quizzes in a given day. This policy also extends to projects." This guideline's intention is to avoid overloading students with too much work at one time. In the past this rule has been a lifesaver for many students, preventing teachers from arbitrarily scheduling their tests with little regard to the student's other classes or activities. But in the last week of this year's first trimester the policy's flaws were clear. Although a student cannot have more than two tests, quizzes, papers, or projects due on the same day, there is no stipulation that teachers cannot schedule two of these assessments a day, for more than one day at a time.

Ninth, eleventh, and twelfth grade students loaded charter busses at the beginning of the second to last week of the trimester, heading for a few days of primarily un-academic recreation with their classmates. Most of them were blissfully unaware of the workload for the week that awaited them when they returned. Of course, none of them had any time or incentive to study for their classes while relaxing on their class trip, and returned completely out of sync with their academic concerns. When they came to school on Friday, the tests began to pile up. Some students had to take or hand in as many as nine tests, quizzes, papers, or projects in one week, piling two on one day more than once. Vocabulary words from foreign languages ran into historical personages, which in turn ran into scientific or mathematic principles, as students feverishly attempted to prepare for their last major grades of the trimester. Preparation for one assignment took time away from preparation for another. Of course no student was as prepared as he or she could have been had they only been taking one test a day.

Another facet of this problem was that different students had different combinations of assignments. One student might have to prepare for a history and foreign language examination at one time, while other students in their classes might only have to prepare for one or the other. Of course the latter group would have a better chance of performing well on their test, as they did not have to budget their time between two assignments. Also, if a student has two major tests one day, and a third test on the next day, the chances of that student studying for the third test in advance are slim to none. This is only because they are already up to their ears in preparation for their other examinations. Suddenly the policy of "allowing students to demonstrate their mastery of materials" becomes the procedure only in words. No student can possibly demonstrate his/her full capacity on a test, if he/she was too overloaded the night before to have time to sufficiently prepare. As eleventh grade student Julia Zhang claimed, "I could have definitely done better on my tests if I'd had more time to prepare for them. It would have helped if they could have been more spread out, rather than cramming them all into a too-short period of time." It is clear that the policy of having no more than two tests, quizzes, or projects in one day, although worthwhile the majority of the time, is not always enough to allow students to prepare. Although one teacher claims that the hectic last week of the trimester is the result of the missed class time from the trips, this is not enough of a reason for teachers to load students with so much work in such a short period. This policy should be revisited, possibly adding a clause about the maximum number of tests, quizzes, or projects allowed in one week, rather than just the number allowed in one day.