Is This the One?

Maclay Upper School Changes the Semester Assessment Schedule Again, and This One Looks Promising

Photo by Alissa De Leva on Unsplash

During the 2024-25 school year, Maclay exam scheduling saw a major change: all semester assessments took place within a regular week of school. This year, after much pushback, the schedule was changed to a more traditional testing setup, with two 90-minute exam blocks per day. Despite conflicted feelings on campus, the change has the potential to be a positive one as it will allow study time in between exams, fewer exams per day and more flexibility of scheduling. These aspects are all reminiscent of collegiate exams, which, as a college preparatory school, Maclay strives to emulate.

The new midterm schedule has study time built into each day. Last year, there was no study time built in whatsoever. With the new schedule, students will be allowed to study on campus before and after their exam blocks, giving them a focused environment to prepare.. This time can also be used for on campus study groups or review sessions with teachers. 

“We were hoping that students would take advantage of the office hours, and if they needed to speak with a teacher, especially if they were taking an assessment from that teacher on that day, that the teacher would be available,” Head of Upper School Charles Beamer said.

With only two exams per day, the new schedule allows prolonged focus. Previously, students not only had multiple exams per day, but also had regular classes going on where teachers were continuing to teach material. This meant students had to divide their attention between absorbing the new and recalling the old, which was very stressful. The new schedule sees at most two 90-minute blocks per day of sit down testing, allowing better focus and time to take a breath in between.

“I'm happy that they broke it back up into the two midterms a day,” junior Lauren Conn said. “You have the time to study and see your teachers.”

The built-in study time also allows for flexibility in individual student schedules. Whether this time is used to stay on campus, get some extra sleep or finish projects is up to the student. In addition, the built-in flexibility allows students to utilize their extra time if that’s an accommodation that they’ve been given. 

“We also wanted to take into account students who get extra time because of various reasons,” Beamer said. “We wanted to make sure that we gave everybody that opportunity.”

While most see the new schedule as an improvement, some still have doubts. Among these is the belief that two exams per day is still too much. It’s important to ensure that students have as much brain capacity as possible for each exam. 

“It's better than last year," senior Sophie Lombard said. “[But] I prefer…one each day because I think the new [schedule] unfortunately puts you in the position where you could have two midterms in a day, which I think was the problem with last year's midterm schedule.”

One exam per day may be ideal, but the change from potentially four exams per day to two at most is a significant improvement reflecting that the administration has put thought into this concern.

“As we go back and we look at how final semester exams are given at the collegiate level, students generally only have two to three, depending on the number of courses that they're taking,” Beamer said. “So we're trying to mimic, and we're trying to build those behaviors as a college prep school.”

The new schedule is very promising for the future of upper school assessments. Overall, students will find the built-in study time and lower daily exam load as a great relief in the midst of end-of-semester chaos.