There's nothing like staying up all night watching the sun rise after studying for an AP lang, physics and Spanish tests. Junior, Shaye Wilson has experienced this too many times. Because of having multiple tests in one day, she gets little or no sleep due to the fear of failing. By staying up until 1 a.m. students are not retaining the information they have been studying and because of that, English class can be covertly used as study time for AP psychology.

Since West Shore opened in 1998, the school has designated testing days to prevent students from having an overload of major assessments. But in reality the policy is not working out as administration had hoped.

“Having each department test on only one day is too restrictive,” Prinicpal Rick Fleming said. “We could try and get the departments to talk to each other, but it’s hard enough to have teachers talk in their own department.”

The administration is stressing to parents that students aren't getting enough sleep, but going to bed is the last thing on our minds if we are having to stay up and study for our physics, AP Lang and Spanish tests.

“I think it's dumb," junior Shaye Wilson said. "By the third test I'm burned out, and I can't focus."

While few schools in the district have assigned testing days, we know that our administration is trying to look out for our best interest, but it's only making things more stressful.

"I find that the freedom to test on any day allows me to focus on where my students are and adjust accordingly instead of sticking to a schedule," said Viera High School teacher Heidi Heath, who last year taught at West Shore.

West Shore is a school of excellence, but we can't achieve excellence if students are spending their class time studying for the two additional tests they’ll have later in the day. Administrators say they haven’t heard of any conflicts with multiple tests on one day, but they don't know the truth. If more students bring this problem to the eyes of the teachers and administrators, maybe something can be done to address the problem.