Last week was hell. Three midterms, two projects and a community wide food-drive to plan.
Going into the “week of chaos,” as I like to call it, I wasn’t sure what to expect. As far as the midterms went, I had been to class everyday but was behind on my readings. The projects were underway but were in need of some serious attention if my plan was to get a decent grade. And the food drive (Stuff the Bus) had been in the works since summer, although the week prior is always the most hectic; organizing five grocery stores, five buses, and over 200 people is no small feat.
After many late nights and a constant addiction to diet coke and coffee, I made it out of the week, sleep deprived but alive.
Putting the sleep deprivation aside, the stress of midterms got me to thinking…why are midterms necessary?
Before I go on, I’m not saying that tests are unnecessary. I just don’t understand the concept of cramming a multitude of tests into a matter of two weeks. During midterm week, library attendance skyrockets and students begin cramming to memorize everything they’ve learned thus far in the semester. For the students with 18 credits, that means six midterms. As in my case, that could mean additional projects as well.
The point I’m trying to make is this: how do professors expect students to succeed with so much on their plate? In addition to school, my guess is that many students have second jobs. With tests spaced so closely together, students are expected to cram multitudes of information into their brain, an often ineffective study technique that only allows information to sustain long enough in the memory to take the test. If a student crams, remembers the information long enough to take the test and then immediately forgets it afterward, doesn’t this defeat the purpose of teaching?
Now, I’m not expecting the concept of midterms to change. I understand that they are in place to measure the students learning halfway through the semester. Nevertheless, the stress that I encountered last week is something I never care to repeat. I can only hope that finals won’t be nearly as bad.
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