The Monday of finals week is the most wasteful day of the school year. Classes can do nothing but go over review guides but most will just let students review on their own. Some teachers will have an actual review activity but most just tell their students to do whatever they need to do in order to be ready. The only classes I am doing anything productive in are my college classes. This is weird because our college grades have already been posted but since we have to have a high school final as well we are doing presentations and speeches. The week of finals in comp are spent presenting and in public speaking we prepare for commemorative speeches and then give them.

If we have to come to school through Thursday in order to get our necessary hours in we should have two finals a day. Monday would be zero and fifth, Tuesday could be sixth and seventh, Wednesday would be first and third, and then Thursday would be second and fourth. This type of schedule would ensure that each day of finals week is genuinely productive.

Having an extra review day seems ideal on paper but in reality it is another day for students to sit around and talk to their friends. Phones are reportedly not allowed during class but because of applications like Quizlet students are able to get on their phones. This allows students to text and play games with their friends. Overall making the day less than effective.

Another aspect of finals that does not make sense to me is how long the finals periods are. I know it takes some students longer to finish tests but I have never been in a class where someone was working even remotely close to the bell. AP US History took awhile for most kids but the last person to finish finished with 30 or so minutes left. It does allow for students to decompress following a tough final but again it is wasted time. Most students will not be productive during this time as they spend it playing games or watching movies.