March 28, 2024

Minimum days before final exams benefits student studying

By Michael Beeli
Staff Writer

As a result of a new scheduling policy, the first two days before finals are now minimum days. The newly implemented minimum days allot more time for students to study for their finals, giving them better control of their schedules and allowing them to better prepare for their exams.

Minimum days follow a bell schedule from 8:00 a.m. to 12:21 p.m., over two hours shorter than standard bell schedule, which runs from 8:00 am to 2:55 p.m. This is the first year Costa has implemented such a schedule in an attempt to help students and teachers feel more at ease.

According to Vice Principal Deborah Hofreiter, the minimum days before finals serve to create more time for both students and staff at the end of the semester. This new schedule benefits all members on campus, as it gives the students more time to study and the teachers more time to close out their students’ grades.

Most students will benefit more from individual studying than time at school in which their environment is significantly more restricted. Thus, the extra time allotted during minimum days undeniably serves as an asset for students.

Junior Hira Shah stated that the two minimum days will greatly benefit students on their finals by giving them two additional undisturbed tracts of time to focus fully on their studying, as many feel as though they can focus much better when working on their own in a secluded environment.

These concentrated and elongated periods of time will allow students to study more comprehensively for their finals, and will allow them to focus on these last exams rather than other classwork.

In addition, according to junior Carson Philipps, his teacher assigned homework due on the Tuesday before finals. As a result, these minimum days will furthermore allow students to take extra time to complete additional projects home and assignments that their teachers may have given out.

According to Hofreiter, teachers will also be at and advantage as they are commonly overwhelmed at the end of each semester. As a result of this, Hofreiter stated that minimum days give teachers more time to grade, prepare exams and compute final grades, as well as any other final last-minute action that needs to be taken. The changes will only serve to improve the grade-implementation process at the end of the semester.
With the extra time allotted due to shorter school periods, teachers will ideally feel more comfortable thoroughly reviewing grades and sorting out through potential errors. In addition, students will now have more of an opportunity to look over their grade, according to Vice Principal Kristin Wolberg decreasing the likeliness of error and hopefully reducing stress overall.

Despite its many attributes, Hofreiter did indicate some concern with the new schedule. She expressed that many students may not take advantage of the extra time to study at home opposed to when in school, where students will be in a classroom and in a more academic setting. Although some students may act this way, students that do take their finals seriously will most-likely make use of the extra time and use it to their advantage.

Overall, the addition of the two new minimum days undoubtedly will benefit Costa students and staff, giving both more time and control of their responsibilities, creating a smoother and more relaxed finals environment for the campus as a whole.

As a result of a new scheduling policy, the Monday and Tuesday of semester one finals’ week will be minimum days. Mira Costa’s semester finals are a crucial period for students to secure their grades at the end of the grading period. The newly added minimum days allot more time to students to study for their finals, giving students better control of their schedules and allowing them to better prepare for their exams.

Minimum days follow a bell schedule from 8:00 a.m. to 12:21 p.m., over two hours shorter than standard bell schedule, which runs from 8:00 am to 2:55 p.m. The minimum days will have full-length zero periods, meaning that students will be able to attend each of their classes and receive any vital instruction from their teachers prior to heading home to study.

According to Vice Principal Deborah Hofreiter, this year is the first year Costa has had minimum days before finals, which serve to create more time for both students and staff at the end of the semester, giving students more time to study and teachers more time to close out grades. Most students will benefit more from individual studying than time at school in which their environment is significantly more restricted. Thus, the extra time allotted during minimum days undeniably serves as an asset for both students and staff.

According to Hofreiter, teachers are commonly overwhelmed at the end of each semester. She said that minimum days give teachers more time to grade, prepare exams and compute final grades, as well as any other final action that needs to be taken. The changes grant teachers more time to finalize their grades and will only serve to improve the process at the end of the semester. Both staff and students will benefit because the extra time will most likely make teachers more comfortable thoroughly reviewing grades and sorting out through potential errors.

Hofreiter also indicated concern that many students will not take advantage of the extra time to study, opposed to when in school, where students will be in a classroom. Although some students will not use the extra time productively, students that do take their finals seriously will make use of the time to their advantage and teachers will benefit greatly regardless.

Junior Hira Shah stated that the two minimum days will greatly benefit students on their finals by giving students two additional undisturbed tracts of time to focus fully on their studying without having to focus on additional classwork or homework. Focused, concentrated, and elongated periods of time will allow students to study more comprehensively for their finals, especially the two days immediately preceding, improving the process overall.

Although shortened class times will reduce the amount of time students have with their teachers, a minimum day schedule works perfectly as students should only need a relatively short class period in order to communicate with their teachers. After discussing key topics and concerns with their teachers, students should then follow up with increased individual studying in order to establish a thorough independent understanding of the content of the final.

The addition of the two new minimum days undoubtedly will benefit Costa students and staff, giving both more time and control of their responsibilities, creating a smoother and more relaxed finals environment for the campus as a whole.

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