By Tiffanie Young

Extended time students will take their final exams in the same room as other students this year, Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts said. 

The schedule for finals will most likely be a combination of last year’s finals and this year’s midterms.

Scheduling at the end of the year is much easier than in the middle of the year because many AP courses do not require students to take a final exam after the AP exams in May, Huybrechts said.

“The feedback that we get from the extended time students for the most part is that they really liked [the midterms schedule],” Huybrechts said.  “They really liked being in the same venue as the rest of the students. It allows them access to their teachers.”

Some students found the midterms arrangements more problematic than those from last year.

“It was kind of distracting, obviously,” extended time student Rachel Tan ’08 said. “When everyone got up to leave I couldn’t focus at all.”

It was also embarrassing to test in the same room with non-extended time students, Tan said, because she was worried that people might wonder why she had additional time.
Kristin Chan ’07, who also has extended time, took the APES midterm on Friday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

“Everyone else got out at 6 and they were all cheering,” Chan said.

History teacher Francine Werner noticed that extended time students had difficulty focusing during the AP United States Government midterm.

Jason Lee ’08 had a Human Anatomy and Physiology exam scheduled for the last set on Friday.

“I didn’t like that idea,” Lee said. “Plus I can’t drive, so it’s rather hard for my mom to make two round trips in one day. So I asked my teacher [Walter Werner] to move it to 12.”