The students lean over the table, scribbling down the last of their answers before the teacher repeats “stop.”

These students are a just a few in a sea of students who take advantage of test retakes. The controversial topic is picking up speed as many students become annoyed with surprising difficulties of tests, being tested on minimally reviewed concepts, or simply not getting a second chance. At Hershey High School, there is an array of opinions both by students and teachers on the topic.

HHS chemistry teacher Kimberly Haney does not allow her students to retake any sort of assessment to follow science department rules. “Our policy is to prepare you beforehand instead of having you take the test and then try to fix… what you did wrong,” Haney said.

Prior to assessments, she gives ungraded homework and formative assessments so students understand where their faulty areas are and can feel adequately prepared for the assessments.

Homework is done to practice and clear up any difficulties they might have in a topic and ask questions on it, so then when the test comes, the students are ready and don’t feel the need to take a retake. Only summative assessments, such as quizzes and tests, let the students earn points.

However, as the class information gets harder, she will offer extra credit. “We, as a chemistry department, give extra credit on some of the tougher tests,” Haney said.

Ninety-percent of 30 HHS students in an informal survey said that one or more of their teachers offered extra credit, so the practice is quite common. However, 77% of the 30 students surveyed said that all teachers should offer the opportunity to earn extra credit.

Additionally, she and co-worker HHS chemistry teacher Robin Dietrich may curve the final at the end of the year.

Unlike the science department, HHS Spanish teacher Lauren Fasnacht does give retakes. According to Fasnacht, the world language department offers one retake per marking period, “…but that is provided that the student is doing their homework,” she said.

Each student is allowed to miss one homework assignment per marking period to be eligible to retake a quiz. This policy exists because the department believes irresponsible students should not get the privilege of having a quiz retake option.

Tests, unlike quizzes, usually cannot be retaken. The ability to retake portions of tests is at the discretion of the teacher. Some factors that lead to a test retake may include a misunderstanding of directions or personal, out-of-school issues. Fasnacht believes that students are unlikely to confide in a teacher about why they did poorly if it is due to personal problems.

Fasnacht said that test retakes are beneficial because they offer students leeway. “I think the retake offers students a unique opportunity to better their grade,” she said. She believes any student can fail to prepare due to forgetfulness of an assessment date. “We’d like to build in… a little brace window,” she said.

However, test retakes are still limited to avoid abuse of the system. Students may intentionally not study for the first test and rely on the retake to do well.

In a survey of 30 HHS students from all four grades, the majority believed that a retake opportunity could cause too much dependency, but would not necessarily lead to abuse. When asked if having the opportunity to retake a test stops students from trying the first time they take the test, 67% said sometimes, and 30% said no.

In the language department, a request for reassessment form must be completed before a requiz. Teachers are interested in seeing growth from the first to the second quiz.

If a student is struggling with content, teachers want to ensure that all confusion is cleared up before the retake, explained Fasnacht. However, these may only be good intentions, for just half of the 30 students said that the process of retaking a test helps them learn the subject’s information better.

Fasnacht teaches ninth and tenth graders in Spanish levels two and three. She understands that high school students, especially the younger ones, struggle with adjusting with new expectations.

“The retake is built in to act like a learning curve for a lot of students,” Fasnacht said.

Regarding curved tests, the department only occasionally curves the final exam. However, Fasnacht usually makes “some kind of provision” like a bonus point, extra credit activity, or omitted question if it was a common mistake or if she feels that she did not prepare her students.

Seventy-percent of the 30 students surveyed said that at least one of their teachers curved up tests. This practice lets students obtain higher grades by taking into account the difficulty of the test.

Students feel that they are more affected than teachers from test retake rules. In a survey of 30 HHS students, only about half said they have at least one teacher who allows test retakes.

However, not all students who can retake assessments enjoy it. Eighty-seven percent of the surveyed said they like being able to retake tests. HHS senior Annika Torp dislikes test retakes. “I feel that test retakes are unfair to those who studied hard the first time,” she said.

Agreeing with Torp, HHS senior Kimberly Robinson believes retake opportunities are slippery slopes that will inevitably lead to abuse.

“Some will use it when they are “off” on test day, but the others will abuse the right and just not try,” Robinson said, “a limit on how many tests you can remake might help that situation.”