Students are chatting in their math class as the song “Party in the USA” plays through the loud speaker. All SOLs and finals are complete. The math teacher, who is usually strict, has laid out a platter of food for all the students to eat as a movie plays on the whiteboard.
It’s the last week of school. Each year, students look forward to the last few days of classes because it is a time where they can relax and chat with their friends while waiting for summer break to begin. They can prepare for summer camps and vacations, or start searching for a job once the end of the year tests are done.
Unfortunately, the 2025-2026 school year will look a little bit different for Madison students. Final exams will be held in the last two weeks of school. Students should be able to de-stress and look forward to summer break instead of having to study for their final exams during the last five days of the school year.
Students will have half days during final exam days, but that does not erase the fact that students will have to focus on finals during a time when they should be celebrating. Just like how normal tests and quizzes give many students anxiety, finals impact students the same way, and for many even more.
Holding finals this late in the year also poses logistical problems. Many students are getting prearranged absences within the last week of school because they are going on summer vacations with family or starting summer programs. These students will have to arrange to take their exams earlier or during the summer. Any students who are sick during these days, or otherwise unable to attend school due to unforeseen circumstances, will also likely have to take the exams over the summer.
This is very inconvenient and could be a huge disruption to families’ summer plans. Many students have jobs, internships, academic programs, or vacations planned for their summer break. Instead of going to the beach or an amusement park over the summer, families that have kids will have to stay in town and take their kids to school to take a test. Also, no student wants to have to take a final over the summer, especially when it includes content that they haven’t been learning in a couple months.
Having finals right before school gets out also impacts the teachers. Instead of enjoying the end of the school year and focusing on grading, teachers will have to spend the last few weeks of school preparing students for finals, and then spend more time grading them once students’ summer break has already begun. They will also be responsible for dealing with the logistical issues that could arise due to finals being so close to the last day of school. Having to grade up to 150 finals puts significant pressure and stress on the teachers as well, as they rush to try and get all of their students final grades within a couple of days.
It could be argued that later finals will be better for students because they have more time to prepare. Earlier finals could be stressful for students, especially given all of the snow days and scattered days off throughout the school year. However, later testing will likely be even more stressful for students. Most would rather get their exams over with and be done earlier–especially since they have to know content from the entire school year, and are likely to not remember everything if there is too much time in between learning the material and being tested on it.
Despite the possible benefits of later final exams, the negative effects outweigh the positive ones. The normal testing schedule, which is slightly earlier in the school year, would be better for students, teachers and families.
