School of thought: Embracing mid-terms

Written by Philip Levens
Thursday, 02 February 2012 01:00

Mid-terms have come and gone. The school year has officially reached the halfway point, which means that students have just finished taking the second biggest, class-administered exam of the year for each academic course. While these tests left most kids stressed and begging to get them over with, I had a different outlook on the situation.

I saw mid-terms as either a perfect opportunity to add another good grade to two great academic semesters, or a way to turn around a rather disappointing start to the year. This optimistic outlook allowed me to perform better on these mid-year exams because I felt less pressured. While I understood that these exams count for roughly 10% of a student's grade for each class, the test does not usually make or break a final grade.

The best part of exam week is the relaxed feeling on campus, as John Jay allows students a greater degree of freedom. Underclassmen have the ability to walk off campus when they do not have an exam, and all students do not need to come into school if they do not have a test that day. Most teachers spend several days preparing their classes for the test, giving pupils the best advantage to study.

Mid-terms are also a great time to get the most out of the information learned from all of your classes. While reviewing all of the material for each class, it allowed students to refresh their memories and remember each and every obscure lesson from the beginning of the year. Certainly, this gives a student a leg up on preparing for finals.

Since these tests are a fact of life, all these principles are important for every student to hear, especially when final exams are only five months away. All that said, make no mistake, I would much rather be playing video games than hitting the books, but a student's got to do what a student's got to do.