My brother just got home from college this past Wednesday, December 12. He drove home after about a week or so of studying and preparing to take his exams before he could relax over his Winter Break. He gets the next three and half weeks to laze around our house, and he doesn’t have any pressure of going back to school. He will start new classes when he gets back, so there is nothing he has to prepare for. The only thing he needs to worry about is getting some more lead for his pencils. This is not the case for us high schoolers.

First off, we are released from break on December 21. That’s a full nine days after my brother is done! If that weren’t enough, about a week after we get back to school in January, we have to take our semester exams. This means our teachers expect us to study up for our exams over break. Some will even go so far as to give us review packets, practice tests and buckets of busy work that is due when we return. Are they nuts? Who in their right mind is going to study over BREAK?! It’s called “break” for a reason. It’s supposed to be a time for us to relax – to take a break from school. Our measly two weeks of break are meant for us to unwind, and not think about school for a while. We want to spend time with family and friends without the stress of an exam weighing on our shoulders.

I think we should have exams before break, not only so that we can stop stressing, but to prepare for a college-type timeline. Exams before break would make it easier on teachers and students alike. Taking exams before break would also give us the chance to actually remember what we’re being tested on, having it fresh in our minds, instead of blanking out because of a two week “break.”