Testing week: despite being a scheduled week that inevitably occurs each quarter, it always seems to arrive quicker than anticipated.

Testing week is designed to lower the stress and daily workload for students, at a time that is stressful for obvious reasons. Because there is a set number of tests allowed to be given per day, students are able to organize their studying accordingly. The hope is that this way, students will be less likely to feel the need to cram. “It helps to reduce my stress because I know when all of my tests are, and I don’t have as many tests on one day,” said Benji Miller ’22. But, Miller also added that testing week can overwhelm him because he has so many tests in one week. “In a usual week, I probably have about two tests, but during testing week, I could have as many as four,” said Miller. Yet, Miller still appreciates the fact that he can prepare for his tests in advance because testing days are listed out in the school planner.

Some students express different feelings than Miller, seeing the cause of their stress to stem from a different source. “Testing week adds stress to the life of students because sometimes teachers have to give tests on days that don’t fit the curriculum because of the day of the week assigned to them,” explained Max Landis ’22. Max finds that he is more stressed during testing week because some teachers are forced to give tests too early or too far after the lesson is over.

According to most students, testing week actually causes more stress than it relieves.  However, it is understood by students that quarterly testing is a part of Scarsdale High School’s structure and that it is a necessity for students to be tested objectively at points throughout the year. Scarsdale High School has been very open to changing policies, with various surveys going out throughout the school year. A survey regarding testing week may be helpful to get a wide range of views from all students and faculty, including data recording the different views that students have expressed regarding the causes of their stress. This could be used to create a more ideal system that reflects the constructive feedback given by the student body.