Exam Stress

Kaelyn H-V

Exam stress

Draft 2

6/4/12

Homework levels unfavorably increase for students as exams get closer

As the year gets closer to being over, it's thought that the workload would begin to slow down for students and teachers would start wrapping up final projects and units from the year. This seems not to be the case. Junior Taylor Murray said, "Sometimes it feels like teachers are surprised by the end of the year. And that may be due to the unknown aspect of the number of days and so on. But I feel like we are always rushing to get everything in, when during the whole year we moved at a much slower pace." Teacher Norm Vandal adds that teachers give last minute homework, "Because they are content driven, because they are "traditional," because they feel responsible to finish what they set out to do and because they don't consider a student's class work as a whole".

Murray also said that, "Final projects are a tradition and sometimes there's just so much material to cover before the final project can start. I understand why they have to do it, but it certainly doesn't help anyone with their end of the year stress." Sophomore Michael Hoffert has a different opinion on the so-called last minute homework. "I think students perceive it, often rightly, as last minute because it coincides with another important academic event, such as exams, or because they think the teacher isn't giving them enough time. I think that it really isn't about the teacher assigning last minute stuff though." He continued to say that "It's, partially to prepare the students, partially to test their understanding of the subject, and partially because large exams signal the ends of a grading period, and the teacher wants to fit the grade into the grade book while the subject of the project is still relevant."

Some students believed that there are some benefits to giving an increase in homework before exam time. One reason could be the stimulation and continuing motivation to stay focused through the entire rest of the year. If teachers were to continue to slow down the workload, there may be a chance of kids slacking off, further hurting them for exam time. Junior Kim Watson disagreed saying, "If all of our teachers are doing it then we have an over bearing amount that we just can't handle and it's hard to do your own studying for the upcoming exams. I mean yeah, the homework is kind of studying but people have their own ways of studying that don't involve the work teachers are giving." Vandal also disagreed and said, "Stress is not very conductive to learning. Sure, you may learn to deal with stress, but I question how much content is absorbed."

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