The holiday season comes along with one thing every high schooler hates: midterms. Every Dec., students have forced to take a test in the middle of the school year to showcase their performance for the semester. However, this puts an unbelievable amount of pressure on students as they approach the jolliest time of the year. Midterm exams are unnecessary and they put a healthy amount of stress on students.

According to an ACHA-National College Health Assessment, research has shown that in 2021-2022, “finals and midterms accounted as the top source of stress for 31% of U.S. students.”

Even though most classes have huge curves for these exams, this doesn’t change the fact that we are all worried about how midterms are going to change our grades all of a sudden.

Now you might argue that midterm exams help boosts your grade, but honestly, I feel like they’re hurting my grades more. Personally, I’m a terrible test taker, which again, doesn’t help with the pressure of knowing my GPA depends on this one little exam. Exams like midterms are also not a true reflection of an individual’s intelligence. At this point, exams are defeating the purpose of school. We are here to learn, but instead, we are now all just thriving for academic validation.

There is also no way I am going to remember all the content I learned way back in August. Having midterms mean I have to shove a whole semester’s worth of information back into my brain just for these two-hour, 50-question tests. It’s too much information and I get overwhelmed just looking at the seven 30-page review packets that are just waiting for me on my desk.

I also think midterms create a toxic atmosphere among students, as they’re going to compare their performances with others, which can be hurtful to some individuals’ self-esteem. Everyone learns at a different pace and a different level, so it’s disappointing how we have created a competition of who is smarter or who got “the high” on the exam.

A lot of students don’t have the time to study for midterm exams as well. Many high school students are involved in either sports, jobs or other extracurriculars that are very time-consuming. Most of my teachers are still teaching content up until exam week, which means I have to prepare for these midterms on top of all the other things going on in my life. Now particularly, with this year’s exam schedule, RHS students still have to attend classes DURING exam week, which I personally think would negatively impact my performance, since I now have even less time to study.

At this time of the year, we have all lost motivation to prepare for any exams. After all, the holiday season is all about spending time with your friends and family, so would you really ditch that holiday party just so you can spend some more one on one alone time with your math textbook?