Westside High School decided to bring back the finals schedule used in years prior to Covid. On Dec. 20 and 21, students will have half days that consist of five 50 minute mods. In order to sign up for their class finals, students have used online links or physical sheets to secure their spot.
Senior Sara Carl is happy with the return of the schedule for several reasons.
“I like the new finals plan because you can get them all over with and then get ready for winter break,” Carl said. “Also, last year sometimes you would take your final early, but you would still have to go to class after and do nothing. I’d just be like, ‘why am I still here?’”
A typical finals schedule may look something like Carl’s.
“On Wednesday I have three finals in the morning which are Chemistry, German, and AP Stats,” Carl said. “Then on Thursday I have two finals during mods eight and nine because I couldn’t fit them in my schedule the first day.”
Carl hasn’t run into any obstacles with the process, in fact she believes it’s easier than past years.
“I think I have a good schedule and the process for signing up is easy to follow,” Carl said.
Choir director Greg Woodin is also happy with the return of the schedule because it allows for more time for students to take their tests.
“When it comes to summative assessments that are cumulative, in order to really make sure that the kids are understanding all the content we’ve gone over,” Woodin said. “I think that it’s really important that we have a longer time to test. The shorter the test, you limit yourself with the questions you can ask.”
Woodin also pointed out that the process benefits people who are in classes that are more project based.
“Project based classes need extra time and so having a dedicated time slot that’s 15-20 minutes longer makes a huge difference,” Woodin said. “Also I would assume that from a counselors perspective, it’s the way colleges do it so we are following a college model. It teaches kids to be here, to not bail early and to stay focused, which is hard to do.”
Woodin’s position as a choir director prohibits him from administering finals similar to more traditional classes.
“Every concert feels like a final to me, at least that’s the pressure that I feel,” Woodin said. “That’s why we put so many eggs in the rehearsal basket, because the rehearsals are the work that accumulates into the performance. You have to have perfect rehearsals in order to have perfect performances, so striving for that and then presenting it in front of people to be judged I think is a big thing. You can do some other sort of assignment that feels more like a final, like other classes, but in choir it’s really not that way.”
While Woodin supports the return of the schedule, he also predicts that students may run into some obstacles when signing up.
“[The process] feels really organized but I was curious to see if we were going to run into the roadblocks of space, like the number of desks that we have available,” Woodin said. “The people that are really big go-getters are getting the final times they want and then people that are procrastinating are going to find out the hard way that they have to pick a different time. I don’t think, regardless of the process, students are ever going to have a perfect process. There’s always going to be people that struggle to get it done.”
