After much suspense over what the end of the semester would bring, the exam schedule has been released and presents a few changes from previous years. Semester exams will take place in-person on Thursday, Dec. 17; Friday, Dec. 18; and Monday, Dec. 21. A detailed exam schedule has been emailed to all students by Assistant Principal for Academics Tom Becvar and shows where students will go for their exams based on class, teacher, period, and cohort. 

When interpreting the exam schedule, students should keep in mind a few factors. Firstly, unless an exam is given in the Commons, it will be separated by cohort. All students will be on campus, they will just be taking exams with members of their own cohort. This change has been implemented to maintain social distancing with a greater number of students on campus. 

“It's not going to be any different from what we're doing on a regular school day right now,” Becvar said regarding social distancing. 

Another difference about this year’s exam schedule is that it contains far fewer classes than in previous years. Given the circumstances, many teachers are giving exams ahead of time, whether that’s in the form of a Canvas quiz or an essay. It is recommended that students clarify what their exam will be if there is not a slot for a particular class on the exam schedule. For example, all English classes except AP English Lit., many theology classes, and many social studies classes will be giving exams ahead of time. 

 “Everybody had that option if they wanted to do a paper or project as their final assessment they could,” said Becvar. “So we got that list way back, so I had a pretty good idea of who was going to be able to give exams and who wasn't.” 

Finally, it is obvious that not every student will be able to come in on the designated exam days. Many students are quarantined or all-virtual right now, and more quarantines nearer to exams are inevitable. If students are unable to make it to an in person exam, they should contact their teacher for that exam and make a plan for how they can take it. Some teachers are allowing students to take their exam from home yet synchronous with the students taking it in school. In other cases, quarantined or virtual students can plan to take a missed exam on the designated makeup day, Tuesday, Dec. 22. 

While the option of all-virtual exams was considered early on in the Covid transition, the SLUH Department Chairs requested that exams be in-person. Thus, Becvar had to come up with an exam schedule that ensures six-feet distancing. 

While quarter exams were canceled, semester exams had to happen no matter what, as AP and 1818 classes rely on exams for college credit, and other classes rely on exams to monitor their students’ progress. Additionally, by having in-person exams, teachers can better prevent their students from relying on their notes instead of studying. 

When it comes to actually taking the exams, exam days will be resemblant of previous years while maintaining the same protocols of this year. Students will check in with the Visitu app like a normal school day and proceed to their designated exam classrooms. Mask-wearing and social distancing will still be required. 

“Nothing is normal this year so we're gonna do the best we can,” said Becvar. 

If students need further clarification about the exam day schedule, an FAQ email has been sent to everyone by Assistant Principal for Student Life Brock Kesterson.