By Chloe Schwalbe 

With the first semester having come to an end, March Assessments are now right around the corner. Each year in the Upper School, final exams are held in early March for students’ year-long academic classes and honors English seminars. However, for the 2026 March Assessments, there are more changes and resources that both students and parents should be aware of. 

Although Upper School Assistant Principal and English Teacher Mr. Heintz said there are “no significant structural or scheduling changes” this year, the assessments have undergone multiple changes over the past decade. The March Assessments were designed to be administered in March for educational reasons, as they expose students to cumulative exams but also offer students the ability to recover if they receive a low score. In contrast, if the assessments were taken in June, students’ grades would not be able to recover if they found their exam grade unsatisfactory. Additionally, by taking the assessments in March, teachers can assess students’ understanding of the material thus far and adjust their approach for the remaining months; likewise, students can learn from their mistakes on the assessments, which would not happen if the exams were returned at the end of the year. In reference to the administration’s decision to give exams in the spring, Upper School Principal Ms. Heath explained, “These are pedagogical reasons for taking the assessments in March.”

Originally, March Assessments were only offered as in-person exams, but in recent years, a committee of faculty found a need to expand from solely exams to creative assessments, hence the change from March Exams to March Assessments. Some classes still give the traditional exams, but others offer project-based cumulative assessments that fit their courses and the educational needs of that class. For example, Ms. Heath mentioned that the “10th grade English made a podcast last year, and they got much more out of it than a regular exam.” Because of the exam committee, each department and course teacher decides and designs the March assessment that they believe is most appropriate.

Another change to the assessments, which began last year, is that they are now administered by class block according to the normal schedule, rather than assigning one subject to each weekday. For teachers and staff, it was logistically challenging to plan the latter, as finding available rooms and proctors proved difficult, and the students’ lack of access to their teachers during the exams negatively impacted their experience. Now, Upper School students are able to take their assessment in their usual classrooms with their teachers as the proctors, allowing them to ask questions during the exam. This change made it easier to provide accommodations like extended time without scheduling conflicts; when it was first introduced in the Upper School last year, it resulted in more organized testing conditions and reduced stress for students.

Finally, a few more changes last year reduced both the time and weight of the exam. The weight of the exam was reduced from 14% of each students’ final grade to 10%. Ms. Heath said, “Now, if students get as much as ten points off their average on the exam, their final grade would only move down one point.” Prior to last year, the 14% weighted exam moved students’ grades down by one point if they received seven points below their average grade; now, with the 10% weighted exam, students must score ten points below their average to move their final grade down by one point. In partnership with this change was the reduction of time on the exam, as they used to be two hours long, but are now an hour and a half, done for educational purposes. 

These changes occurred in the hope that students will experience less stress about their grade on the March Assessments, so they can focus more on learning from it afterwards. However, if students still feel stress about the upcoming exams, there are many tactics to help them stay focused and manage this stress. For example, using short, structured study blocks can help students stay focused, as the brain focuses better in sprints. Reducing distractions—for example, by putting away a cell phone—can also help students stay focused. To reduce stress levels, teachers recommend that students plan ahead with a schedule, use calming resets like exercise or slow breathing, and give themselves time for plenty of sleep and rewards. 

The March Assessments are a stressful and pressured time for most Rye Country Day Upper School students, but by learning about why they are implemented and the resources available to help students through it, they will not seem as daunting.