This year, instead of students giving up 12 hours of their lives that they’ll never get back, they only have to give up nine.

The administration’s decision to cut down the exam time to an hour and a half has been applauded by most, and rightly so. While high school is supposed to prepare one for college, many college exams aren’t even two hours long. It was overkill.

Unfortunately, not all students get to enjoy this new exam length. Many AP courses will still run for the old two hour exam time. Although some students may complain about how AP students are being punished for being so smart, I don’t think this is the case. An AP course should be more difficult than regular or honors level courses.

In some ways, having the AP exams remain two hours can only help the students. For example, the AP English 3 exam consists of a full multiple choice section and two essays, and if students use the full time available, then they will have the same amount of time as they will when they take the real test. Since this is the same format of the AP test in May, having the two hour time limit for the exam will help them be better prepared.

The administration is also considering moving midterms before winter break next year. Although this has not been officially decided upon, it would be another excellent decision concerning exams.

It’s easy to forget most of the material that was taught before break by the time school starts again, so having the midterms before these two weeks of mental decay only makes sense. Teachers would be able to spend less time reviewing information that was lost due to the time away from school.

Most colleges have midterms before their winter break, too.  If JC is supposed to prepare its students for college, doesn’t it make sense to model the exam schedule after college exam schedules?

Hopefully, these exam changes will stay for years to come.

Scott Novak is an Opinion Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.