From the very beginning, high schoolers have dreaded coming back from winter break to be tested on all the things they have learned over the past six months. In recent weeks, there have been rumors of removing the hated midterms from the curriculum. Ledyard would not be the only school to have cut midterms from the school year; in past years, Maloney and Platt High School in central Connecticut have voted to eliminate midterms from schools. The reasoning behind their removal was to give teachers and administrators more instructional time and less time preparing for exams.

Sophomore Chloe DeMaio states, “They’re very stressful. Last year I studied for at least three hours for each class I had to take a midterm in. Along with sports and other afterschool activities, it can really stress us out.” She’s not the only student who has opposed taking midterms. Removing midterm exams from the curriculum would be reasonable for Ledyard, giving both students and teachers valuable time for lessons that can go into the final exam in June, rather than teachers rushing through the material. The removal of midterm testing would also take away the “review packets” that some students believe are pointless. Students argue that midterms are unnecessary because the concepts they are tested on are used throughout the year, meaning it is hard to forget them, and the same concepts they are tested on in January also appear on their finals in June. Why be tested on the same things twice?

Emily Nixie, Staff Writer