New Senior Final Exam Schedule Brings Mixed Reactions

For the first time ever, NHS is trying out a new senior final exam schedule. Starting Friday, May 30th, 2025, seniors are taking their finals separately from the underclassmen. The change was made to give seniors the opportunity to take half of their finals prior to prom. But not everyone is loving it.

Many teachers are finding the new schedule hard to work with. Since seniors are finishing up earlier than the rest of the school, teachers have to create two different schedules—one for seniors and one for everyone else—which makes it harder to stay organized. Marketing teacher Debbie Piacentini said, “Never in my 20 years of teaching have they done this schedule.” She’s not alone in feeling that this new setup is a bit confusing.

Statistics teacher Jessica Mabel explained, “I have classes with mainly seniors and it’s difficult to work around the senior-only schedule when I have a small number of juniors in my classes.” She said that trying to keep the class moving for a small group of juniors while most of the seniors are already testing or done is a challenge. AP Language and Composition teacher Katie Toledano agreed, adding, “In my opinion, AP students who are seniors should not have to take finals. The AP test was your final.” She believes that students who already completed the AP exam have shown what they’ve learned and shouldn’t be required to take an extra final just for the class.

From a student perspective, though, the new setup is not that bad. Senior Nidhi Patel said, “I think that this schedule is very helpful. I think it takes off the stress for the seniors after being stressed all year with college applications.” She said she appreciated the way the exams were spaced out. “I like how it’s split up because it gives us time to cool off after each exam.”

Nidhi also had strong opinions about exemptions. “As far as exemptions go, I don’t think honors classes or AP classes should have to take a final. I think anyone taking an honors or AP class should automatically be exempt because the whole year these students spend time preparing for AP tests which is essentially a final in itself,” she said. She also suggested a different system for deciding who gets exempt from finals. “I think that maybe the average to be exempt for seniors should have been 85, or they should have made a minimum GPA to have to be exempt. A student’s GPA is more representative of their work throughout high school and would truly show if they should be exempt from a final or not.”

One thing both students and teachers are concerned about is how the finals schedule runs through prom. Finals continue after the prom date, which creates a weird break and can add more pressure. Seniors want to enjoy prom and the events that follow, but it’s hard to relax and celebrate when they still have tests to study for. That stress can take away from what’s supposed to be one of the most fun parts of senior year.

Overall, this new senior exam schedule is something totally different from what students have been used to in the past. While it may be helpful in giving seniors a chance to slow down, it’s also created new problems that teachers and students are still figuring out. Whether it sticks around for next year is still unknown, but it’s definitely started a lot of conversations.