The OYIS Tosabori student government was recently made aware of several complaints from students about summative assignments and tests that were crammed into the last week of school.

Last year, during the last week of school, some students were rushing to get their last summative assignments done while others frantically revised for their final tests before going into the winter break. Everything was hectic, and no one was entirely excited for the winter party or CAS celebrations either—but why?

It seems that many teachers had coincidentally planned their summative assessments and tests to be on the last week of school, which makes sense, since it is a nice way to wrap up the semester before going into winter break.

However, many students were overwhelmed with the amount of work that was left for them before the break, with some assignments only appearing on ManageBac a week before they were due.

The OYISTER asked a student what their week was like, right before the winter break:

How many assessments did you have that week?

“Right before the winter break started, I had 7 summative and formative tests combined over a span of 4 days.”

How many weeks in advance were you informed about the assessments?

“It depends on the subject, but on average, I guess I’m informed just a week in advance.”

What would be something you wish to see from teachers in the future regarding summative assessments and their scheduling?

“I think taking summatives and formatives is good, since we can see where we are at and it provides us with a good opportunity to see our capacity. However, if the tests are congregated together a lot, it naturally gives enormous pressure on students. So, I hope teachers divide the days to take tests. I think 3 tests in a week is bearable.”

“Always thank you for considering students first and we know that every teacher is doing their best to make the best school environment for students. However, we would like the tests to be separated a little more so that we can concentrate on each different subject more and can feel less pressure on it.”

Thankfully, though, our reliable student government members heard students’ concerns and brought the issue up to the teachers. We asked In Hyuk, student government president, how the student government took action.

How was the issue of cramming summatives brought up to the student government?

“The student government didn’t directly receive the complaint, but I heard many classmates of mine and some grade 9 students say that their summatives have been crammed.”

“One of my DP classmates told me that she had six summative assessments in that week and I realized that many other students also had more than four summatives when the teacher asked students in global politics class. I heard the same complaints the week before the break from many more peers, so I thought I might as well bring it up in the meeting and discuss a way to solve this issue.”

What decisions did the student government make, regarding this complaint? What steps were taken / are being taken to prevent this from happening in the future?

“The student government decided to email the teachers early enough at the beginning of the year so that teachers have time to plan summatives and schedule them in equal intervals as much as possible, because it seemed like preventing such things, starting this year, would immediately reduce students’ academic stress.”

Were teachers understanding/supportive of this?

“Amy from grade 10, who is our staff communicator, informed other student government members in our first meeting back that she received emails back from some teachers saying they understand students’ concerns and support our suggestion.”

It seems like there is a pretty simple solution to this problem, and this will hopefully take the pressure off of students, especially those who are in the midst of the DP.

I am happy to see that the student government is actively advocating for students to improve campus life for the entire community. The student government would like to remind students that there is a suggestion box located on the bulletin board by the DART room, where student complaints and suggestions are always welcome.