With memories of winter break and first semester finals fading fast, many students have forgotten the stress that plagued them as they crammed before each day of finals. The break was not as stress-free as it was purported to be, and added an even more frantic week before it. Even though many teachers had been forced to cut down the material taught, there was still little time to study.

During winter break in the 2010-2011 school year, senior Vivian Tsai and her family visited her grandparents in Taiwan. On her trip, she had to bring along her calculus textbook, her Barron’s AP Chemistry prep book and the AP History textbook to study for finals in January.

Relieved after their fourth-period final exams on Dec. 20, most students streamed into the hallways and looked forward to enjoying their lunches. But students from teacher Margarita Morelle’s AP US History class remained in the classroom and looked on as first their teacher and then assistant principal Kevin Mount searched each backpack for a missing test copy.

The chamber choir singing carols in the classroom was one tradition many students looked forward to in the past. This year, however, the new first-semester schedule with finals before winter break puts an end to these “carol-grams.”

Although this year’s Winter Ball, taking place on Dec. 10, is significantly closer to finals week than it has been in years past, the date has yet to be a source of complaint, organizer said.

Although this year’s Winter Ball, taking place on Dec. 10, is significantly closer to finals week than it has been in years past, the date has yet to be a source of complaint, organizer said.

Although seemingly few people welcomed returning to school a week earlier than usual after an especially short summer, students will benefit from the new finals schedule later in the school year. The pre-winter break finals schedule allows students to properly relax over the holidays.

This year will be the start of a new implemented schedule in which first semester finals begins the week before break and school ends a week earlier than previous years.

The Palo Alto Unified School District’s Board of Education voted 5-0 this past January for a 2011-2012 school calendar that would move final exams to January, after winter break.

Teachers’ policy of scheduling the finals for AP classes slightly before students take the actual AP exams is popular with juniors and seniors, according to a recent poll conducted by the school.

Imagine receiving your report card and seeing two C’s in classes you swear you got A’s in. Your parents go crazy and lecture you incessantly on the disappointment you’ve caused the family. But wait, you go to talk to your teacher the next day and find out it was all because of a grading mistake; all because Aeries was closed.