Illustration by Rhea Noumair

As the end of the quarter approaches, students of all grades are stressed. A majority of students have borderline grades in at least one class and are depending on one a single test or all tasks assignment to raise their grades. This everlasting game leaves students holding their hearts in their hands as the grade book closes.

Each class usually houses a minimum of nine all tasks assignments. Teachers can decide whether it would be all tests or some tests and some regular assignments. However, as we near the end of the quarter, all tasks assignments are shoved into the last two weeks. It’s common that we have tests on the last day of the quarter and for some students, their entire grade depends on that one test or assignment.

A test grade can be the deciding factor in a grade change between an A or a B, a B to a C and a C to a D. There are students who are genuinely working hard and just find the subject they are testing in to be a struggle, so they end up studying the entire week. However, there would also be three other tests in the last week the same student is studying for. The tests would be for honors and AP classes making the time management on students part, much more of a struggle.

Sophomore Zoey Walters received her booster Covid shot the day before the last day of the quarter, which also happened to be the same day as her Chemistry test. Walters experienced the typical side effects of the booster shot, being, a headache, fatigue and a fever. However, since the test was for that quarter, she attended the class, took it and went back home to rest.

This is a common occurrence students face, having to sacrifice their health for a better grade in their class. Teachers are obligated to give out at least nine all tasks assignments and between nine weeks, they should be placed in the middle of the quarter, spaced out well enough.

“Those are the most important assignments and when they place them at the end of the quarter, it doesn’t let us spend enough time on them,” Walters said. “If you do well on the assignment, it could raise your letter grade. But, if you do poorly on it, it could lower your letter grade as well.”

Many students are affected by the end of the quarter assignments. There are teachers who plan for their test to be on the last day of the quarter, making our days more stressful and making their jobs much harder.

“There’s been way more than nine all task assignments a quarter in each class. [In English], we had three days to do our essay, and those three days happened to be at the end of the quarter,” Walters said.

Despite the constant request for change and improvement from the students, it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. Tests are continuing to be piled up at the end of the quarters and gradings seems to be held until then. Our school constantly promotes mental health but the increase in tests in honors and AP classes being crammed into the last week of the quarter is proving otherwise. All students seem to be talking about are their worries about their grades and school. This needs to be addressed.