By Max Burkett

Fall testing is a very weird time in the school year. Students are just getting back into the flow of school and teachers are starting to get into the nitty gritty of their teaching plans.

MAP testing, PSATs and end of quarter tests/quizzes can sometimes stress students out and give them loads of anxiety. Some students believe these tests also do not reflect their intelligence or their overall capability and hard work.

Sophomore Jude Holman believes these tests early in the year do not comprehend his overall capability and knowledge that he has gotten over the years “because the tests adapt to what you don’t know.”

Furthermore, Sophomore Kika Okonkwo has a very strong opinion and dislike for MAP testing as a whole.

“I think it’s stupid.
 It doesn’t make a lot of sense because everybody learns differently,” Okonkwo said.

However, fall testing is not only about MAP testing. End-of-quarter tests and quizzes play a massive factor in student’s grades as a whole because of how much weight they hold in the grade book. Freshman Rehyan Regmi is already having to balance regular daily homework with studying for his end-of-quarter tests.

“I wrestle [with doing all the work daily], especially with sports on top of that. It’s a very stressful thing,” Regmi said.

On one hand while Regmi is stressed about balancing the end of quarter tests and homework, Holman is actually excited about another type of test: The PSAT.

“I’m actually excited to take it because it will [help me] be prepared for the actual one,” Holman said.

All three tests cause anxiety. Many students have differing opinions on which test they feel causes them the most stress. Holman shared what he is most nervous about: “The PSAT because I’ve never taken it before.”

Building on this perspective, Regmi also shared his thoughts on another key test that gives him troubles.

“With the end of quarter tests, you don’t know what your grade’s going to round up to and what it’s going to be,” Regmi said.

Lastly Okonkwo reports that MAP testing always gives him more anxiety than the others because of the pressure he feels outside of school.

“My parents always say you have to get better scores, and all my friends are in all these advanced classes that get scores 230 and above, and I’m getting 225,” Okonkwo said.

Getting good scores and grades during fall testing can give students stress and anxiety. The atmosphere during these times creates a gloomy and tired mood and vibe around the school according to Okonkwo and Holman.

Stress and the need to study can also take away from time outside of school with friends and family, hobbies, sports and most of all, sleep. Holman, Regmi and Okonkwo tried to come up with ideas on how schools should change and handle fall testing.

Holman stated that he feels that the time frame in which the testing occurs might affect the feel and performance of the testing.

“[Just] improving when and what time they are, can change so much of our results,” Holman said.

Regmi then stated that adjustments to workload and pacing can influence overall assessment performance.

“[There should be] less work and then more permitted time in map testing. Like, more time to answer each question,” Regmi said.

Lastly, Okonkwo believes that schools should maybe go back to the drawing board on fall testing as a whole.

“Just get rid of the end-of-quarter testing or map testing as a whole. That was really the best thing. If they couldn’t do that then make the test adaptable to somebody’s learning,” Okonkwo said.

All of these points really make the idea of fall testing seem unintelligent and not thought through, but fall testing can truly be a good thing for students. MAP testing gives teachers an idea of how students grow and adapt to new ideas throughout the school year while PSATs give sophomores and juniors a look at what the SATs are and look like.

History teacher Colin Martau shared his opinion on fall testing as a whole from a teachers perspective.

“The PSAT, I believe, is very important especially because we give students here a free opportunity to do it. I think that’s a great thing to have practice [for the test] and then, hopefully, when you take the SAT, you score really well and be admitted to the college of your choice, and also, hopefully, receive some scholarship money,” Martau said.

Then, Martau also shared how he likes to do end of quarter projects more so than tests and long exams.

“When we’ve done our semester exams as well, I tend to go more toward project work because it gives students more unique ways to show what they’ve learned rather than just doing a quiz or something that they haven’t thought about since August or September,” Martau said.

Lastly, Martau expressed his final thoughts about fall testing as a whole and what he believes needs to be changed.

“I’m happy with semester testing. I think that having multiple points throughout the year, doing some kind of summative work, I think that’s really important. The problem with fall testing, at least in history, is if one of us is in the industrial revolution by the end of that first quarter, and someone else is still back in the American or French Revolution, you’ve got this whole range of questions that only one teacher can use, because the other teacher hasn’t had the opportunity for their students to learn that yet,” Martau said.

Martau believes that fall testing is important and good for students to showcase their learning but he believes that the real problems occur when some history teachers are ahead or  behind others when tests are happening, causing the students to not understand parts of the quiz.

So, while fall testing has good aspects, the bad ones may outweigh them and the flaws may need to be more looked into because it’s affecting students and even some teachers.

“Fall Testing makes everything more stressful, because it’s just one more thing on the pile that just snowballs,” Holman said.