Goodbye Midterms

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FHS Senior Kendyl Ryan studies for midterms.

Grace Griffin

Midterms: a universal source of stress for FHS students of all grades.

Aside from the inescapable dread of two 90 minute tests back to back, many students feel the concept of midterms is superfluous in and of itself.

Seniors especially look forward to the end of the year; while all other grades are taking finals, they are allowed to skip out on classes in which they have an A or higher.

This concept promotes hard work year round to earn a grade high enough to skip these interminable and draining tests.

If FHS were to institute a similar policy for midterms, students would strive to earn higher grades up until test time to gain the same benefits seniors have during finals season.

Students would also be able to focus the energy they would have spent studying for midterms on their regular classwork (inevitably given by teachers regardless of the midterm schedule), again working toward better performance in each class.

In terms of seniors, midterms come at one of the worst times possible. Between college applications, FAFSA deadlines, scholarship essays, etc., many seniors feel as though their time studying for midterms would be better spent working toward their college goals.

“As a senior, I am so busy. I wish I had more time to focus on my regular homework and college applications instead of studying for midterms in some of my classes” says Madeleine Dieterle, FHS senior. This rhetoric is echoed throughout the senior class.

Extending beyond seniors, this policy would benefit students in all years, and act as a reward for earning good grades during the first half of the year.

While some teachers stress the idea of midterms to review concepts from the first two terms, the popular concept among students is offering a way for high performing students to skip the test, as they have proved with their grades prior to it that they know the material.