Monday, 7:40 AM marks the beginning of another dreadful school week. Somehow, you’re already mentally checked out despite only being in school for a couple of minutes. You check your planner to see if you have any upcoming assessments during the week. Alas, you see that you already have assessment dates marked down—it’s worse than you thought. As if one assessment wasn’t enough, you have two quizzes on one day and four on another. How crazy is that! But then you begin to ponder, how long has it been since there was a test-less school week? 

Assessments often invoke the words “I’m so cooked” from students, a phrase that shows the eventual acceptance of failure. The stresses of academic obligations plague the minds of every student in the building. The season of procrastination, sleepless nights, and dependence on caffeine begins to flourish due to every assessment seemingly being scheduled directly on top of one another. Suddenly, the library becomes the most loved building in Edison. No longer is it known for its seclusion, but rather, as a place where students congregate to panic over their history presentations. Seriously, every table is occupied with students worrying over WHAP or AP Seminar presentations! Students study frantically, their minds occupied with only the thought of acing their exams. 

Is this really a healthy routine? After all, the recommended amount of sleep for teens is around 8 hours; yet, a majority of high school students get drastically less sleep due to the prioritization of their grades. There’s such a high prioritization of assessments that students often sacrifice their health just for a shiny A on their report card. The early start time of school doesn’t help students at all either–who wants to wake up at 6 in the morning just for school? Not me! As good as sleeping in the cozy corner of the choir room sounds, studying shouldn’t overtake the personal lives of students. It robs teens of their personal time, giving them more of an incentive to stay up late. 

“Just start studying earlier!”

If only it was that easy! I myself am overwhelmed with multiple assessments each week. Each subject adds up and the amount of time spent studying ends up the same. Tests and quizzes shift from being progress checks on how a student retains information to just another hindrance in their lives. It adds unnecessary amounts of stress on students and instead forces them to spend countless hours studying multiple subjects at once. So much information is jammed that in the end, nothing is retained.

Instead of cramming in assessments at the last minute, they should be more spread out. Every test or quiz being scheduled on top of one another adds to the sleepless nights students have. Not to mention, it’s draining to have to take another quiz after having one the period before! Limiting the amount of tests per week takes a huge burden off of students’ shoulders and allows them to prioritize their studying in a healthy way. Information is retained more efficiently and assessments become a more accurate representation of how a student is learning in the subject. It goes from testing a student’s limits to testing their comprehension.