Jamie Boeheim and Marissia Potamianos
Editor of Promotion and Staff Writer
The first semester is coming to an end which means that midterm week is coming up for most students at Jamesville-DeWitt High School. Two days at the end of January, Thursday, Jan. 26 and Friday, Jan. 27, are solely for midterms, and students only go to school for their tests. Midterms are based on the material learned so far in the school year and aim to test students’ knowledge and judge the amount of material their either know or don’t know, to prepare students for their finals, many of which are Regents tests, in June.
Freshman have to take the global and earth science midterms; sophomores have to take biology and global; juniors have to take chemistry, English 11, and regents US history and pre-calculus; and seniors have to take physics and precalculus/ AP Calculus depending on what class they are enrolled in.
How are students going to prepare for these tests? Freshman Paige Keeler plans on doing review packets, making study cards and studying with friends. Junior Ryan Evans plans on looking over old assignments and tests. Senior Lizzie O’Brien also plans on going through notes and old tests and forming study groups with friends.
Freshman are nervous for their midterms because they haven’t been through the process yet, but upperclassmen know what to expect. According to Keeler, her midterms in middle school were given in a classroom and some teachers gave different tests. This is different from the high school because the whole grade takes the same test for a certain subject and is either in the Auxiliary or Main Gym. “I am nervous because the midterms in the high school are not the same and I don’t know what to expect,” said Keeler. Freshman Brevin Scullion agrees with Keeler and says that he’s nervous because he doesn’t know what to expect.
Often, there is controversy between whether or not midterms are necessary. Many of the students at J-DHS believe that midterms are a waste of time. Students such as sophomores Pat Murad, Max Schulman, and Niko Dimkopoulos said midterms are, “pointless and are weighed too much.” O’Brien agrees with Dimkopoulos and says that the midterms are weighed, but she also believes that it is a good half year checkpoint. “Midterms are unfair to students because the 2nd marking period ends the last day of midterms so if you score poorly then it really impacts your average badly,” says Junior Riley Burns.
Midterms can be seen to be either good or bad to students here at J-DHS, and everyone has their different study habits for certain classes in order to score well on the tests. They can be stressful for some students, however, they help students greatly to see what they need to learn more in depth for their finals.
