Mom: “What did you do in school today?”

Student: “Nothing.”

While this response may seem blasé and detached, for most Advanced Placement (AP) students this week, the word “nothing” sums up their school experience. Palmetto may seem disorganized on most average schooldays, although, when the testing curse occurs chaos erupts causing changing bell schedules, displacing classes, and the worst, leaving hundreds of students staring blankly ahead in the auditorium and gym every period.

This tradition of grouping AP classes in the auditorium and gym is, at first, welcomed by the stressed students who imagine it as an oasis from frantic studying. However, by the end of the first week, students who take at least two APs find this experience to be torturous; no one (especially the students who strive by taking extra advanced classes) should have to suffer hours of doing nothing.

Worst yet, a small army of substitutes barricade these students from leaving to go to other classes. While this may seem like a feeble attempt to ensure the security of Palmetto’s students, the disastrous consequences far outweigh this mere benefit. Students who wish to study quietly, go to AP reviews, or just escape the frenzied crowds of the auditorium and gym cannot escape.

Other schools like Coral Gables Senior High have instituted better arrangements for their students. At Coral Gables, they proctor AP testing in the school gym. This leaves the classes that would be consumed, open for continued class time. In Palmetto, the classes that occupy the second floor of the 2000’s building are displaced. As a result, students who wish to study during these free periods don’t have a desk or proper classroom setting to prepare for future tests.

Perhaps, the administration (or the testing office) could consider changing Palmetto’s policy of wasting student’s time after they spend a day in the gym watching students twiddle their thumbs.