I suppose I came to college fairly naive: I marveled at the lack of curfew, embraced the newfound freedom of being on my own and, I admit, rejoiced in the opportunity to select my own courses. But I was most green when it came to the bane of every college student's existence: midterms.
In high school, midterms marked a halfway point and each class had only one. Imagine my surprise when I come to Hopkins, and suddenly I have two, three midterms in a class and I sit at a dining hall table with friends studying for a new midterm every two weeks. What happened to the halfway point?
I pondered this on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, after having woken up from four hours of sleep with a raging caffeine headache. I had spent 10 hours at the library the day before, pushing myself to get everything ready on time. Despite my efforts it just seemed as though, in the battle between midterm and student, it was clear who was going to win.
Is it really necessary to have midterm period last from the middle of October through the end of November? Must there be a constant stream of testing that lasts weeks on end? And if there is more than one midterm assigned, doesn't it then function as just a regular test, albeit a heavily weighted one? Why assign it the name "midterm," a moniker that strikes terror in the hearts of students everywhere?
The use of the word midterm adds undue stress to an already hectic life. I would by no means skimp preparation for an exam that was merely a "test," but I wouldn't have the same sense of the axe hanging over my head as I frantically tried to memorize the names of poets and the views of various philosophers. My heart goes out to the poor souls who skim chapters of biochemistry and try to memorize all the isomers of glucose as they trudge off, deprived of sleep, to their impending doom.
A torrent of midterms leads to an unhealthy student body. Case in point: I have a friend -- let's call her Q -- who is a classic Hopkins overachiever. Once Oct. 10 comes around, she, for all practical purposes, stops sleeping. Instead, she spends her free time on C-level studying or in study groups, preparing for her tests. Her diet suffers, as does her social life and her mental health. She becomes a walking zombie.
I obviously don't expect the University to do away with midterm examinations; such a suggestion (although wishful thinking) is preposterous, as the benefits of having a midterm are great. Midterms allow a student to gauge how well he or she is doing in a class. They also serve as an important wake-up call for students who may have been slacking, and allow professors and TAs a chance to see how effective their teaching methods have been thus far.
Clearly it is not the midterm itself that is the issue, but instead it is the volume of midterms that creates the problem. On more than one occasion I have had multiple midterm-papers and examinations in the same week; time management skills become crucial in these situations, but unfortunately, by the end, I am left feeling harassed and disheartened -- feelings which affect my test grades and classroom performance. So what can be done?
A possible solution to the barrage of testing that occurs during October and November would be to assign two weeks as official "Midterm Testing" weeks, during which the classes that require a midterm could hold exams. Obviously, this is not a viable solution for all courses, but it would relieve some of the misery induced by the endless rush of papers and examinations. Operating on a system similar to the ones used during finals weeks would allow students ample time to prepare, which would hopefully result in better exam performance.
No matter how you do it, midterms will always be a trying time on a college campus. But, with any luck, there are ways to ameliorate the effects of constant testing. Thankfully, midterms are now over c9 just in time for finals.<
