ATHABASCA - January is often a month of stress for Grade 12 students in high schools all over Alberta — though the oddities of the past year made for an even stranger month for many students at Edwin Parr Composite (EPC) this year.
Rather than writing the traditional diploma exams in the second half of January as they usually would, students throughout the province were given the choice of whether or not they wanted to write the daunting finals this year.
While many at EPC did choose to write the exams, others, such as Karley Bilsky, opted out.
“I chose not to write the diplomas for a few different reasons,” she explained, “I was very happy with my grade at the end of the semester and I do not think I could have done better on the exam. We learned a lot of material and there would be a lot to learn in a short amount of time.”
Fellow Grade 12 student Maxyme Prud’Homme agreed, saying she chose not to write the exams because, “I was happy with my marks and didn’t want to jeopardize them.”
Prud’Homme had also received early acceptance to the University of Alberta and did not want to risk the possibility of her marks dropping below their required average.
Not only did opting out of the diploma exams help students with their marks, but it was a major stress reliever for most. Wyeth Tan felt exactly that.
“With the transition to online and in-person I feel like it was already a stressful year for everyone, making the optional diploma exam a huge relief,” she said, a statement many of her classmates agreed with.
Though there was some concern as to whether or not this change would affect students’ testing abilities, the majority of students believed it would not have too harsh of an impact.
“We are still being tested in our classes and our teachers are putting in so much effort to prepare us for university,” Bilsky said.
Prud’Homme followed up on that statement adding, “I think it might affect us a little bit, but in the long run we will adapt.”
“I think it was really nice to have them optional because we were in and out of school. A lot of us do not do well learning online, so having the option to do this test was great. We missed a lot of information and material because the work had to be condensed for the online learning.”
Bilsky expanded on the amount of stress she and many other students were facing.
“Cancelling the diplomas lifted a huge weight off my shoulders, and I know I can say the same for many of my classmates. The exams are weighted so heavily, and when we miss school and have to go online it’s very stressful to think we aren’t learning to the extent we could be if it were a regular year,” she said.
Thankfully the cancellation solved that problem for many students.
“Now, we have more time to stretch each unit out and learn at a more relaxed pace. Cancelling the diplomas is one of the only positives I can take out of this crazy and uncertain year. But at the same time, I would take every diploma with a smile on my face if it meant we could have a normal senior year.”
