By Utkarsh Panchal Whether you take AP, Honors or CP classes, grades are a quintessential motivator. Getting a good grade, no matter which class, can push you to be your best. Sure, people say that grades don't matter, and you won't even remember your grades when you’re older. But for now, getting the good grade shows colleges that you have a grasp on the knowledge provided and will be successful at their institution. One of these grades includes the midterm. Now, everyone knows what a midterm is: the test taken halfway through the year to test your knowledge of the information given from the beginning of the year. These tests have lived the “test” of time, but as time has gone on, they may not be as useful as the used to be. First of all, this one test is worth 10% of your total grade. This means that one test has half the worth of all the test, quizzes and projects in just one quarter. Now, this is good for the people who excel at tests and regurgitating the information given to them. They can just sit down for hours upon hours at a time, take the test and succeed. However, people who know what they are doing, understand the concepts, but may not be great at taking tests are not going to do so well. Taking these long tests during one sitting is daunting for some people since there is so much information to retain. Even if remembering all the material isn't a daunting task for some, the sheer amount of questions might trip them up. Everyone wants to be sure of each question before they move on, and doing this on a normal test may not be difficult as there aren't many questions. However, the sheer size of the test would mean that someone gets stuck on one question, they don't have much time to make sure that they are right; they have to move on before they run out of time. AP classes also may not need midterms as well. See, the main goal of AP classes is to complete the AP test at the end of the year. All of the information given during the year eventually leads up to the AP Exam; it’s what you signed up for. However, the use of a midterm may be obsolete for these classes because a break in the middle of the year may disrupt the flow of information for the rest of the year. Taking a break and studying for large test leaves less time at the end to study for the test that really matters: the AP Exam. Really, the thing that mostly matters is the fact that you know almost everything that you learned throughout the year at the end of it. Knowing half of the information for the AP Exam and testing on that is to some extent unneeded. Overall, if students really do need a refresher of the information learned in the first 2 quarters and aren't scared of the large task at hand, then a midterm would be fine and perhaps very useful. But, if the test would just upset people and have no impact on the retention of material, then it may be time to let it go. Some AP teachers have already taken this route, and if it is the right decision for the whole of the class, then the midterm could be rendered obsolete.
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Elena Caputo
Hi! My name is Elena, and I'm a senior at Wilson and one of the Editors of the Editorial section. If you have any questions or ideas or if you want to write, email me at [email protected]! Olivia MonosHello! My name is Olivia and I'm a junior this year, and one of the editors of the Editorial section! I'm really excited to write for the Paw Print again this year!
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