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Midterm exams prove counterproductive

Midterm exams prove counterproductive

Everyone knows the mind-numbing and painstakingly long lead up to the infamous Midterm week.

The primary purpose of the midterms is to assess how well a student has retained information from a semester; however, midterms negatively reflect a student’s understanding of the content due to the increase in stress and lack of sleep that comes from the 16 hours of testing in four days that sums up ten percent of their full-year grade.

According to an article on Stanford.edu, too much stress is proven to decrease test scores. How much is too much stress? In my case, it’s knowing that every single one of the eight tests has a massive impact on my end-of-the-year grades.

During midterm week it has also become an involuntary tradition that students stay up all night and deprive themselves of sleep in order to cram in as much information as possible.

Now let’s take one of these students, with eight hours of sleep, so stressed they’re giving themselves a headache, and let’s put them in a chair for two hours and make them do AP Calculus. No, this is not some sick prank on TruTV, this is high school.

According to the Berkeley Center for Teaching and Learning, many schools have already implemented alternatives to midterms such as a series of mini tests throughout a week, or just a presentation putting together all of the information from that semester.

Some classes have already begun substituting midterms for presentations or projects, but for the unfortunate students that do get stuck with six or seven midterms, it’s a rough ride. Perhaps if Staples were to break up the midterm dates so students weren’t bombarded with exam after exam some of the migraine-producing stress could be alleviated.

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About the Contributor
Quinn Hughes, Breaking News Managing Editor
Being on varsity for all four years of high school is something not many athletes at Staples can says they’ve accomplished. But for senior volleyball superstar, Quinn Hughes ‘16, he has been apart of the varsity team since his freshman year. He is known to be the “outside hitter”, and not only does he make his presence on the courts but Hughes is also a two-year writer for Inklings. He originally was the opinions paper editor, and then gradually made his way to become the breaking news editor. Hughes enjoys Inklings because he feels like there is ”a lot more freedom and it’s a student run organization where we can take charge and really make the paper our own.” Over the summer Hughes took not a single break from writing, as he, and many other Inklings members, traveled to Columbia University to take part in their Journalism summer program. “We really got to learn a lot there, and they taught us so many things that we can bring back to Inklings” Hughes said. “We got to work on how to write articles better, and really how to become a better journalist. They gave us some great tips for interviewing and tricks that will help us get better quotes”. Hughes hopes to make his senior year the best year of high school, and is excited for all the opportunities once he graduates high school.