The new final exam schedule has caused a wave of student complaints regarding new requirements and a lack of communication about changes.

While the previous schedule only required students to be present for sit-in exams, the new schedule encourages teachers to plan activities during the scheduled exam periods, even for classes that typically assign essays or projects as finals. The new schedule also includes a 30-minute advisory meeting each morning, as well as an additional 60-minute period and 90-minute period for tutorial each day. To give teachers time to grade assignments, most teachers will only be available for one of the tutorial periods.

English teacher Akie Kutsunai feels that navigating the schedule will be difficult for upperclassmen, but helpful for freshmen who have never experienced finals.

“I feel like it is good to have a clear schedule [where] everyone is expected to be on campus every day and everyone knows what they’re doing,” she said.

As a teacher, Kutsunai is planning to approach the finals system differently based on the type of English class.

“I do give my upperclassmen in my elective more freedom in terms of … multiple options of what their final exam is going to look like,” she said.

In addition to varying types of assignments, each grade has a different policy for their off-campus permissions. While seniors can utilize senior privileges to leave campus, and juniors can receive parent approval to leave campus when they have no scheduled meetings or classes, freshmen and sophomores are required to stay on campus for the entire school day.

Sophomore Rowan Moore explained that they enjoyed spending time with their friends during exam week last year, but the schedule changes remove that ability for underclassmen.

“The whole enjoyment that came from finals week that alleviated the stress of the finals was being able to go where you want with the people that you want to hang out with,” he said.

Additionally, many students with a longer commute to school expressed frustration with transport-related inconveniences.

Although parents can excuse students from non-exam activities, students are generally expected to attend advisory each morning.

This commitment creates additional commutes for students who may not have exams but are required to be present for advisory. Senior Kate Jacobs, whose drive to school each day is 25-35 minutes long, plans to manage her workload with her commute in mind.

“I know I’m gonna have a lot less free time because I have to travel back and forth to school more often,” Jacobs said. “So I’m going to be trying to … get ahead on my work more.”

On top of increased stress and unnecessary commitments, Moore also considered the lack of communication from administration at the beginning of the semester to be a problem.

“I think if the admin is going to change the schedule that dramatically, they need to communicate that to the students at the beginning of the term and tell them why, and they didn’t do either of those things,” Moore said.

Additionally, according to Dean of Students Stacy Tepp, extra activities will be offered during tutorial and some exam times.

These opportunities include ice skating, de-stressing in the wellness room, arts and crafts, free worktime in the Design Lab, open gym, and hot cocoa and s’mores.

The schedule is currently available to view on Veracross. Exams will happen from Dec. 19-22.