Are Testing Days Worth the Hassle?

By Noah Stein

The use of testing days is controversial, with immense benefits and glaring consequences. As a result, students have varying opinions.

Testing days are in place to support students and ensure that they are not overwhelmed by tests on one day. In this way, testing days can be beneficial.

9th-grade student Max Soleimani said “I really like testing days,” and added, “They help make studying a lot less stressful.”

I tend to agree with Max and his support testing days, as I personally enjoy spreading out my study sessions. However, some students believe that testing days are not the right solution to the stress caused by studying.

Despite the simple rules, testing days are ineffective and sometimes work against the problem of stress. For example, teachers often give quizzes on days that are not their testing day. Sometimes, these quizzes are challenging and are increasingly similar to a full test.

Byron Stock, a freshman, felt he suffered from this issue and said, “I have had many tests and quizzes in one day, and it is not fun studying for everything.”

Meanwhile, 9th-grade student Henry Kozlowski said, “I don’t believe that the school testing days work” and “there isn’t enough time to take in new materials and process when to study with everything so crammed.”

On top of this, several teachers do not utilize testing days completely. Ultimately, without complete support, testing days do not help alleviate the angst of students.

I believe there are several ways to address the failure of testing days, including considering quizzes as tests. Additionally, teachers should consider the impact of tests on non-testing days and potentially utilize less challenging tests or grades with more leniency. This would give students the safety and decreased stress that testing days aim to fix.