The school calendar this year releases students on a Tuesday for the holidays. This is different from previous years as it is usually a Friday. Have you seen the midterm schedule and thought about it? For freshman that are not aware of the schedule, there are three days of early release at 12:55 p.m. for midterms. You will go to your first midterm of the day, then your IF for lunch and finish the last couple hours in your second exam of that day. You may be exempt from the midterm if you have an A in a semester long class.

Midterms are broken down into the following:

1^st period is on Thursday, December 15

2^nd and 3^rd period are Friday, December 16

4^th and 5^th period are Monday, December 19

6^th and 7^th period are Tuesday, December 20

The first instinct may be a negative feeling. Many times something new does not feel right. The thought of losing momentum studying for midterms has an unstable feeling to it. Going into the week of Christmas seems odd, like school is infringing on personal time. Families have holiday parties planned during that weekend, and some students might feel guilty going to a party while they should be studying for midterms.

The flip side of this new schedule is that the exams are spread out more than normal. You have a full weekend to recover from the first three exams and prepare for the last four. A student’s focus can be on a smaller number of class tests and projects. Maybe a student will have their hardest exams divided between the two weeks for balance. Maybe the student will have all the hardest exams the first half and gets them over with before the weekend. The student may also have the hardest exams after the weekend and will have extra study time.

This is my second year taking midterms. I really like having early release because it gives me extra time to study, and I still feel like I can get a good night’s sleep and be ready for testing. I do wish we could exempt midterm exams for the classes we have an A average in, like finals (the freshmen are going to love that part.) When I first saw the midterm schedule, I did not like it. The idea of getting out on a Friday and being done made it seem more like a day of celebration. However, this year I am taking some more difficult classes, and I think I am one of the lucky students who have their exams divided up so they are not all in one block. We have a friends and family party that weekend, and I will use that as a break in my studying. I think the goal is to try something new and try to find balance within that plan.