JEDDAH, 19 January 2006 — Having mid-year exams immediately following a major holiday has wreaked havoc on both studies and fun time, some students said yesterday. Others said they took advantage of the odd timing this year that places exams between the Haj break and spring break.
Many students are used to traveling during holidays with their families. In some years, the end of the academic semester and the exams fall after the holiday and before an early-February spring break, and this was one of those years.
“We use every holiday to travel outside the Kingdom,” said Samia Hassan, a mother of a university student. This time, Samia’s son had to take his books with him to study. She said that she found herself not enjoying her time thinking of how could her son concentrate.
“He couldn’t enjoy his time there,” she said. “We changed the flight’s reservation and flew back to the Kingdom a week before the holiday ends so that my son could study.”
Many students say that it would be better to merge Eid Al-Adha and spring breaks into one three-week, really enjoyable vacation.
“I don’t understand why the vacations were designed that way. Why weren’t the Haj holiday and the midyear vacation merged so that we could enjoy it?” asked Omar Ahmed, medical student in King Abdul Aziz University (KAAU). “Last year, we as students were relaxed when we did our midyear exams and then enjoyed our three-week midyear vacation which was merged with the Haj holiday. I wish this year was the same,” he said.
Some teachers also commented that this holiday would negatively affect the students’ performance in the upcoming exams.
“Students are distracted and do not know how to invest their holiday in preparing for exams. I expect low exam grades this semester, especially from under-performing students who did not open a book during the holiday,” said Farida Mahmoud.
“I don’t blame them since they are supposed to enjoy the Haj holiday,” she added. “The situation is not the same for students who excel and who sacrificed having fun in their holiday.”
The bookworms said they actually preferred having Eid to prepare for the finals.
“This holiday timing was good to prepare for my exams,” said Mohammed Walid, a KAAU pharmacology student. “I only suggest that instead of having this two-week (Eid) holiday, the exams, then another one-week (spring break) vacation, it would be better that spring break be added to the summer vacation so that we can invest it in traveling. A week is too short for traveling.”
