Some major changes are being made to Collinsville High School’s grading system and finals policies. Rather than quarters, Collinsville will now be using a grading schedule of semesters. Though these changes might seem minor, they might affect students more than one might expect.

The quarter system was in effect to act as a check-in point in the middle of the semester. With pressure at the quarter points, students were urged to pull their grades up before the end of the semester. However, the change in this system can also help students with lower quarter grades. Although semester grades are the ones that end up on students’ transcripts, quarter grades still matter.

“I was told that the change would benefit students who had a very low grade in the first or third quarter and allow them a better chance to pull their grades up,” said Social Studies teacher Mark Schusky. “It was also said that many teachers had an unequal number of points in first and second (or third and fourth) quarters, thus not really giving an equal comparison to each quarter for a student.” 

Likewise, the change in the weighting of finals is one that went through the administration. “I think students mostly prefer Final Exams to be worth 15% of their overall grade rather than the 20%. It’s been in years past–that much less stress over one major tests,” said Schusky. 

Students are starting to see the benefits as well. “I like the change because it puts less pressure on students to do well on their finals,” said senior Jake Wilkinson. “Not everyone is a good test taker, and finals are not always an accurate representation of how well a student understands the subject.” 

Overall, many students are excited about the changes since they take a bit of stress off before the holidays.