Throughout the pandemic, Vis has stayed in school with masks with 0 in-school transmissions. At the end of December, semester one exams took place. Now, exams in and of themselves are still very difficult and stressful to study for. But during a pandemic? Now that’s a whole new level.

Personally, studying for exams is not the worst thing in the world, but I do think that during this catastrophe, there should have been some sort of leeway available to accommodate the changing environment. Whether the tests were worth less in our grades, more time was given to complete them, or really anything to acknowledge the fact that taking high-stakes tests during a global pandemic is maybe just a tad too stressful.

Attending regular school during a pandemic is already a lot for a teenager to deal with, but adding to that with exams worth 20% of our grade is a lot for a growing mind to deal with. Now, this year’s exams weren’t the worst in the world, but I know personally in a normal covid-free world, I would have performed better on them, and I think that should be acknowledged when future exams are assigned.