The upstairs and downstairs commons have been closed off and on for the past week due to some of the AP exams taking place in Patriot Hall. How is this impacting the student body? In a survey, Bob Jones students expressed how they are feeling about the Commons being closed, and the results seem to be pretty diverse. Some people say that the Commons being closed doesn’t affect them in the slightest, some say it’s a little inconvenient but not a big deal, and some are pretty annoyed about it.

The students who are annoyed with the Commons being closed have a range of complaints. Most were annoyed that they have to change their routes to class, but there were some who were really annoyed that they can’t eat in their typical place for lunch or might not get to sit with all of their friends because the lunchroom has become more crowded.  The Commons houses a lot of seating for lunch. 

Something else that has been put into motion due to the AP exams are “silent bells,” which is basically exactly what it sounds like. The bells are turned off in order not to disturb those who are testing. This leaves students and teachers to keep up with time on their own which, as you can imagine, has caused a few bumps. One student said, “They’re annoying, some teachers don’t pay attention to when the bells are supposed to go off and I end up stuck in one of my classes for too long.” Another said, “It lets me get away with leaving a little early, so I’m fine with them.”

We still have another week left for AP exams to take place here at Bob Jones, which in turn means another week with the Commons closed and silent bells. Maybe we can use another location for AP testing in the future, but where that is, who knows?