Are Midterms a Necessary Rite of Passage in High School?
February 15, 2017
Midterms and finals mean studying, studying, and more studying for students in high school. As many of us know, studying means stress. So, are midterms and finals really worth all of the stress they put on students?
Midterms and finals used to be a Ridge rite of passage. Every January and June, students had a week of half days dedicated to midterms and finals. The exams, comprehensive and lengthy, have generated plenty of midterm horror stories. Despite the discontinuation of these exams at Ridge, some still believe that midterms and finals are necessary to prepare high schoolers for college, which generally continue to subject students to cumulative testing.
However, 90 percent of students state that midterms and finals are the biggest stress factor for them during high school [2]. This is understandable since midterm and final grades can represent as much as 20 percent of a student’s final grade in a course. Therefore, a student’s capability in a subject becomes largely based on one test per semester. This does not seem like an accurate way to measure a student’s skills and knowledge.
Karthik Iyer ‘19 agrees that midterms are not a correct measure of one’s capabilities: “Midterms and finals place an insurmountable amount of stress upon the students, reducing their full potential.” Instead, a better way to teach and measure a student’s knowledge would be a series of spread-out and lesser-weighted tests throughout the semester [1].
If a district feels that long comprehensive tests are necessary to prepare its students for college, there are good alternatives to midterms and finals, such as Advanced Placement tests [4]. Ridge Italian teacher Mr. Caputo states that, “with the advent of PARCC and the popularity of AP courses, I’m glad that we don’t waste time with midterm and final exams. I don’t see the value in testing twice.”
Moreover, due to the potential negative effect of midterms and finals on a student’s GPA, districts are always under political and parental pressure to produce high test grades [4]. AP tests avoid this issue, proving challenging and comprehensive, considering that they do not affect a student’s GPA or overall grade in a course [4]. Additionally, students are anonymous to AP graders, so the AP test tends to be a fairer assessment than midterms and finals and a more accurate representation of a student’s subject knowledge [4].
In terms of student stress, AP tests only create stress once a year while midterms create stress twice a year. In the past thirty years, statistics reveal that AP tests are more beneficial to U.S. high school achievement than midterms and finals are [4]. In fact, AP courses indicate a high level of student achievement; 70 percent of students pass their AP tests [4]. So, why use midterms and place more stress on high school students who are constantly tested?
Shreya Rudrapatna ‘18 explains that midterms “cause a lot of unnecessary stress and pressure for all of us [students] and we already have major tests like the SAT.”
In the end, I think that midterms and finals are unnecessary tests that needlessly cause students stress, hurting them more than helping them. Because of the numerous disadvantages of midterm and final testing and the availability of suitable alternatives, I do not think that Ridge High School should re-implement a midterm and final schedule.
[1] http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-01-14/news/1001150311_1_final-exams-student-s-grade-tests
[2] http://www.darientimes.com/14601/through-a-teenagers-eye-midterms/
[3] https://foxfusion.org/2016/12/06/students-and-teachers-prepare-for-midterm-exams/
