By: Melia Botticelli and Fateha Syed

Midterms are making a comeback for the first time in three years, and due to high schools not being able to give them out throughout Covid-19, students aren’t sure what to expect and how to prepare themselves for the upcoming exams. This has been causing a significant amount of stress, mostly for non-seniors, as the class of 2023 is the only class to have ever taken them.

Since the last few years have gone without them, the relevance of midterms has been questioned. While it’s undeniable that they help prepare students for college exams, student opinions vary.

Mt. Hebron junior Arooj Vahora stated, “I think we should have midterms because I feel like we need to get back into the normal high school routine, but at the same time it’s causing a lot of stress on students, I think we shouldn’t have them.” 

Countering Vahora, Mt. Hebron sophomore Rylee Donnell stated, “I don’t think we should have midterms because it’s just another thing that has to be piled on top of other school work, sports, extracurriculars and work outside of school.”

Midterms are worth 10% of the final grade for every course. When asked if this percentage is reasonable, Mt. Hebron freshman Victory Anyanwu stated, “I think midterms should be worth 5% of your grade because it puts less pressure on students and it isn’t as impactful on your final grade as 10% would be.” 

Agreeing with Anyanwu, Donnell stated, “No, I definitely think they should make it 5% again especially with this being the first real midterm test since Covid. We need to ease back into things and doing 10% is not helping.”

With midterms comes studying, and the feeling of being prepared. On the topic of readiness, Vahora emphasized, “No, not at all, I think teachers waited last minute to release reviews which can get very stressful and we haven’t gone over any previous units to refresh our memories.”

This is a large time of transition back into a “normal” high school routine, and Mt. Hebron students are feeling stressed over how to prepare, what to expect, and the potential impact this test will have on their grades. 

From us at The Mountain, good luck students!