Now that midterms are over, many are left wondering if all this stress is necessary?  

Many FLHS students are struggling with studying for a midterm exam and studying for an end-of-unit test that are often given right before the midterms begin. 

This frustration with midterms being stacked upon end-of-term exams is not new. In fact, just last  year then junior Sofia Destaso was quoted by The Prospect saying, “It feels much more stressful because I have to go back and relearn everything we went over from September to January. I have to go back and reteach everything to myself.”

According to a Fairfield Board of Education policy, teachers have to integrate a common assignment to give all students the exact same experience.

Principal Dr. Greg Hatzis commented on the BOE policy by saying, “It was their belief that teachers were still giving large tests that resembled midterm exams just incorporated in the term 2 grades,” and “they were still very large tests.” 

But many teachers are also ditching the idea of a typical midterm exam. For example, the Journalism class run by Mrs. Seltenreich is doing a larger assignment that counts for the midterm grade and the students are given class time to work on it as well. 

Some faculty members, such as Webster House Principal, Dr. Greg Pugliese, was “Very much in favor of getting rid of them when we did.” Dr. Pugliese commented on how stressful it is for students to be able to do normal schoolwork on top of remembering and re-learning all of the material that students have been studying since December. 

Pugliese explained that, “midterms take a huge amount of time. Think about the time you spend in class reviewing, taking the midterm, reviewing the midterm, that’s a huge amount of time that could in theory be used on other material.”

When interviewed, senior Tanner Waskiewicz was quoted as saying “they put a lot of stress on students because you have a short amount of time to study, and they are not spread out like normal tests.”

Dr. Pugliese also said that midterms cause “unneeded stress and anxiety” that students do not need after returning from a break that is used to relax and recharge from the school year.  

Overall, students are so stressed out about the midterm exams that they are neglecting normal class work in favor of studying for an exam that teachers are saying is worth 10% of their overall grade.

While some argue that mid-term exams help students prepare for college exams, it is also important to remember that some of these students are 14 years old, and there is plenty of time to prepare for college later on in their academic journey.