End of year tests are the one part of the year students dread the most. With a pandemic causing them to be home, they should not be forced to take standardized tests. They get anxious about not knowing the material or failing the test. They take weeks of preparation and it’s the part of the year where teachers cram as much information into their students’ heads as they can.

This year it’s different. Half of the students are at home and the others in school. It can get hard to focus and pay attention when you’re in the comfort of your home. Most students aren’t retaining any information no matter how much they study. It’s hard to understand what you’re learning if it’s not in front of you. Most kids are visual learners and need to do hands on activities or be in person with the teacher. The pandemic has made this difficult and now kids are struggling to prepare for these tests.

Even though it’s hard, some students want to take their tests. Specifically, in AICE or Cambridge classes because they earn college credits by passing exams. They are used to these exams and know how to get their headspace right most of the time. However, younger teens who take FSA’s feel that it is not necessary to take them this year. It has been a hectic school year and they feel grades shouldn’t count this year no matter the grade they are in.

Many students are in agreement that final exams should be cancelled. ” I do not believe that we should be forced to take the FSA this year because the way learning has occurred this year it is not regulated so the scores are going to fluctuate.” said Freshman Aiden Tarshis. “The online students are having a little more difficulty, and the scores would be all over the place.” I agree with the fact that most of the in-person students would have better scores than the online which is not fair. Most parents don’t want their kids in school because of the virus and that’s not the student’s fault. They are trying their hardest, but when they are used to being in school, it gets much harder at home.

Most of these exams can determine whether some students graduate or not, and this school year they have had to learn a brand-new way of learning. Tests online, piles of homework, and even more stress. These are supposed to be the building block years of our lives, but in the midst of a pandemic, if the curriculum has to adapt then the method of testing should as well. In the years to come it’s my hope that we can put this pandemic behind us, but it would be extremely difficult to do so if our academic careers suffered in the process.