By Felicia De Innocentiis | Staff Writer

A fork in one hand and a pencil in the other, senior Lexi Vela crams with some final notes for Anatomy during her lunch period. Vela’s primary concern is for her academic achievement, so when the new midterm testing schedule was released, she happily approved.

“I like how we have the weekend to study, and that you only have to worry about two classes at a time, instead of trying to prepare yourself for a bunch of exams all at once,” she said.

Teachers and students are equally preoccupied with the looming reminder of upcoming midterm exams. The testing period will commence in the following days, right before Winter Break:

Thursday, December 15 – Fourth and Sixth periods.

Friday, December 16 – Third and Fifth periods.

This is followed by a weekend grace period, and finally:

Monday, December 19 – First and Seventh periods.

Tuesday, December 20 – Second and Eighth periods.

Both Monday and Tuesday will be early release days, on which school will be let out at 1:30 pm. Assistant Principle Hensley Cone explains that it is the district that has assigned these days; not specific campuses.

“Every campus throughout the district has the same days to give out midterms,” Cone said. “Exams are always given [out] the last days of instruction; the last days of the semester.”

To ease the apprehensive atmosphere of the abrupt end of term, the weekend between tests will serve as a good precursor for the holiday season.

“It gives you more time to test and study,” Vela said.