The last four days of finals week that wrap up each semester are structured for students to take two-hour finals for two of their classes each day.
The schedule is designed for teachers to test students on what they have learned throughout the semester.
But some teachers have their students take their finals during the weeks prior to finals week.
Preparing for finals is already stressful as it is, and it is even more stressful for students who have to juggle these preparations with AP exams the first two full weeks of May.
Trying to remember the tons of the information over the course of AP exams season and finals is a challenge. According to indegene.com, a study on retention shows that within an hour learners forget an average of 50% of the information presented.
Students may forget this much material because of stress. Stress can be amplified the more AP exams overlap with their regular classes.
The overlapping of schedules can cause a student to build up frustration and even cause sensory overload.
Since final exams cover all the material throughout the whole semester, moving finals up can cause an excess load of coursework and studying for students.
Sensory overload can be caused by a matter of things such as when the brain receives and processes too much information at once.
According to medicalnewstoday.com, sensory overload occurs when the brain struggles to prioritize sensory inputs, which is the information that our bodies receive and process through our senses.
Another factor is the amount of time students have when taking final exams. A regular class period is an hour and 35 minutes, while during finals week a class period is two hours.
The extra 25 minutes given during finals week periods are to account for the increased amount of content tested in final exams. Students need this time.
If students take final exams before the designated finals week, they lose out on those extra 25 minutes.
To accommodate for this lost time, teachers may be forced to shorten their final exams, meaning not all content is thoroughly covered.
All in all, teachers should keep final exams for the designated time in finals week. This will keep students’ stress levels and sensory load from going up, and it will provide students the proper amount of time to take their final exams.
