With the end of the second marking period nearing, MHS students are forced to face one of the most stressful times of the school year: midterms. Midterms have always been a custom at high schools and colleges around the nation, and they joined the MHS curriculum seven years ago. Recently however, some schools have opted to remove midterms from the curriculum, and instead just have finals at the end of the year to test on all subjects learned throughout the year. Some students would prefer this method, only having one big test to stress and study for at the years end. However, an overwhelming majority prefer the setup that we have now. They believe that it is easier to have a midyear test so that you can more easily recall information from the beginning of the year, and not have to remember or relearn all the September material all the way in June. And although it’s not a viable option, I can assume that the majority of students would opt not to have either midterms or finals.
One problem that many students have with midterms and finals is the input they have on their final grade. Midterms and finals together count for 20% of your final grade. Many students complain that if they are having a bad day, or just don’t do as well on one of the tests as they had hoped, their grade will suffer. Other students just don’t excel at tests like they do with classroom work. Students argue that two days, two tests, although large, should not be able to have that much of an impact on a grade that otherwise is built up through months of work. This is true to an extent. The midterm and final together count for 20% of your final grade. Let’s say, for example, you get an 80% every marking period throughout the year. If you were to get a 50% on both the midterm and the final, your final grade would drop to a 74%. To some, that seems drastic, while others see it as negligible. On the other hand, if you haven’t been doing so well marking period to marking period, the exams present an opportunity to bring your grade up! So use midterms to your advantage. Hit the books and hunker down!