On a daily basis, high school students often find themselves with high stress levels before the school day has even begun. Rigor highschool material often leads to numerous assessments each day, causing great stress to many high school students.  A recent study conducted by Joshua Eyler, director of faculty development at the University of Mississippi and author of How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories Behind Effective College Teaching, has shown that students that tend to spread out assessments throughout the week do better in school than assessments all on one day. Higher grades result in less material and work put on the student before taking the assessment; therefore, the student does not experience as much stress when he or she has less tests in other classes to worry about.  In order for students to decrease their stress and get higher grades in school, they should be able to schedule what day they would like to take an assessment.

Every student is overcome with too much stress each day due to having too many tests back to back every rotation of classes.  Many students complain of having too many tests or quizzes a day because it is stressful and overwhelming. Some students have said that having too many assessments a day causes disorganization, lack of sleep, and the tendency to lose focus in other classes due to stress from back-to-back assessments. Students should feel prepared, not stressed and overwhelmed. So how will allowing them to schedule their own tests help? High schoolers should be able to study on their own time, giving them a little more free time for balancing extracurriculars with studying and as well as spending time with family without having to worry about studying all the time. Through this solution, students would gain decision making skills, more responsibility, and would benefit from less stress and disorganization. Teens would benefit if this solution were to actually take place in school because they would become less stressed and have higher grades.

In addition, students tend to get higher grades when they do not feel stressed and are more focused on the material they are learning in each subject; therefore, there should only be two assessments at most each day. This calls for undivided attention to that particular class and more focus on the curriculum being taught inside the classroom. Students can become less focused in other classes due to discreet studying for examinations in classes before their tests.  This may not seem like a big deal because the student may have performed well on his or her evaluation due to studying in class, but he or she later finds oneself behind in the classes he or she was focusing on other subjects in. When cramming in study time in other classes, students find themselves not grasping the lessons being taught and their grades going down. For this reason, students taking two assessments at most each day will heighten grades in each class and they will be able to further grasp the material taught in the classrooms.  Lower grades are due to the stress put on teenages as they try to fit studying for five classes into school weeks due to having two to three tests or quizzes or tests per day. In conclusion, students being able to pick which days they are able to take tests would result in higher test averages.

 This solution would give students the opportunity to pile every subject onto one day. No, this idea does not because students would be given two rotations for quizzes and three for tests subsequent to the lesson learned prior that week. These days would be set aside by the teacher after the information has been taught. From there, the students are allowed to choose which day they feel comfortable testing on. This also allows students to be prepared and feel confident in their test-taking skills. It is important for students to feel confident in themselves before tests because studies show that this behavior results in higher test scores. Letting students take on this responsibility will also teach them life skills that include self-reliance and creating structure into their school weeks. These skills will further educate and prepare students for college. Students would improve from this idea because picking their assessments would allow students to receive higher grades and confidence in themselves as well as responsibility and self reliance skills.  

Teens would become less stressed, more organized, get more free time, and have the motivation to continue their good grades with the results they are shown using this solution. Parents would be happier with their children because of their lightened moods and less stressed sons and daughters. Teachers would also see progression and higher grades in their classes, and not to mention, it would also give teachers less papers to grade all at once. Teens would be given opportunities to learn real-life skills, not always taught inside the classrooms, and stress levels would go down in society. Students’ mental health would show tremendous positive results with this idea. Therefore, students should be allowed to choose their assessment days. Ultimately, a student’s decision is different and representative of how he or she will succeed in school and in life. Overall, this solution should be enforced into all school curriculums to ensure students are confident and will succeed in school, therefore, life.