This semester, final exams at New Trier High School will look a bit different. Rather than grouping exams together by subject, they will be scheduled by class period. The change aims to build in more time between exams and allow students to test with their teachers, but it will likely cause more trouble than it is worth. This is not the first time New Trier has tried to mess with final exams. Recently, they attempted to rebrand finals as ‘End of Semester Experiences’—and I say attempted because no one has ever used this wording unironically. It was a truly uninspiring effort at making exams seem less stressful. Several years back, New Trier made a much larger change by shifting first semester finals to before winter break. I never experienced finals after break, but from what I have heard, it was challenging for students and teachers to make this adjustment. Everyone has their own ways of preparing for finals, but that big of a shift can throw people off and increase end of semester ...