Imagine after a long, busy weekend filled with sports and activities, you realize you forgot about your test or quiz that the teacher mentioned you have on Monday. Now you have to cram in studying along with the homework you got from other classes. You come to school the next day feeling unprepared, tired, and stressed. Your mind is confused and not ready to take this test; this could affect not only your mental health but your grades, too. Students and teachers both complain about having jam-packed weekends and stress; piling studying on top of that will not help.
Most teachers try to make school enjoyable. Students get excited when they find out the teacher is mellow, until they get assigned a test…on a Monday. Most students want to spend their time on weekends with friends or relaxing at home, but because of those tests, they can’t. Layla Bush, a sixth grade student, said, “On weekends, you forget everything you did from the last week, and you don’t want to be at school, so you definitely don’t want to be taking a test or quiz.”
Cramming in studying for a test on a Monday can cause stress when students have trouble remembering the materials you learned from the previous week. Surprisingly, some teachers only assign tests or quizzes on Mondays. Gia Fuzy, an eighth grade student, said, “Usually a lot of teachers assign a bunch of tests or quizzes on the upcoming Monday, on that Friday.”
In addition, many students have to study and do some work outside of school, even on the weekend, when the weekend is meant to be a break from school. “The worst day to have a test is Monday because it’s the first day back from the weekend and everyone’s tired,” Matthew Perlak, a seventh grade student, stated that when asked about what was the worst day to have a test.
After a long weekend filled with activities, you start studying for your test. As you’re filling out the study guide, you realize you forgot the answers to all the questions. Now you have to try to re-teach everything you learned over the past week. Francesca Moser, an eighth grade student, said she can’t study on weekends. “I have no time to study on the weekends because I am busy with other activities.”
Many students lock in with their work on the days of the week when they know there is an upcoming test, until they have a wonderful weekend with activities and fun. They get back from school, and they blank on everything they just learned. If assessments were any other day of the week, they would have time to refresh their brain. James Chisholm, a sixth-grade student, stated, “Monday, because you forget what you learned in the past week after the two days off.”
Emma Vaccaro, a seventh grade student, said, “If teachers aren’t expected to grade our work over the weekend, then we shouldn’t be expected to do our work over the weekend.”
If you have had a teacher who complains about grading work over the weekend, then you should be able to point out that they shouldn’t expect us students to finish our assigned work over the weekend.
