A 2-hour long exam period. Studying upon studying. Work piling up, and stress piling up. Students know what is coming: midterms and finals.
Each year during some week in January and the last week of school in June, students take a series of tests and finish a series of projects for their classes. “I feel like all students stress about it,” said Sarah Gillespie 2025. When taking up 10% and 20% of your final grade who wouldn’t stress? But that then leads to the question…are midterms and finals needed at HBHS?
In the search for the answer, I interviewed Sarah Gillespie, a junior at HBHS. She said “I don’t think we need them…we take tests in classes already. And if we just take the tests our teachers can add up the scores from our tests in class.” Regular class tests could easily take the position of the midterm and final exams. With more of the smaller tests, it could also be better for students’ grades, as if you fail the midterm or final it could tank your grade. This could also ease the stress of testing. A lot of students also “…have things outside of school, plus having tests, plus having to study for this…it’s too much,” said Gillespie. With getting rid of the midterms and finals students will feel a lot less stress, and many students may also do better as their grades will not fall if they did not do well on the exam.
However, the opposite was said by Victoria Flaherty, an English teacher at HBHS; “I, as a teacher, enjoy the midterm, because I really do use it as a way to respond to my students’ learning.” With students taking the midterm Flaherty was able “to take a look at how they did on different portions of the exam that was designed, and was able to see how they were doing, and since then all lessons have been adjusted” (Flaherty).
If the midterm was not there she would not have been able to adjust her lessons, and students may not do as well in their English class. Annalise Walle, a senior at HBHS, said the same thing as this year she is taking two AP classes. “Midterms I think are useful for AP classes, because a lot of teachers use it as a mock AP test.” said Walle. The midterm in that sense can be very helpful for AP classes, as it gives another layer of preparation for the AP test at the end of the year.
But when it comes to finals, all interviewees agreed, that they are not needed. Students do not want to take them because they are the last week of school, and teachers do not see a need for them either. “I don’t necessarily enjoy finals, or even see the benefit in them,” said Flaherty. With there being no school after that, there is nothing that can be done if a student does not do well on them. And there is no learning after the final either, since school is over teachers can not adjust their lessons like can be done with the midterms.
Following the facts, and the students and teachers at HBHS. Midterms should be kept going, but the final could be gotten rid of. Do you agree with this plan? Should both be gotten rid of? Should both be kept? It’s worth considering.
