I love that midterms are cancelled. It’s just unnecessary stress and work for students to complete.

I believe that exams aren’t a reflection of your work, it’s the two quarter grades.  Exams do not evaluate what you’ve learned over the year, they are simply a memory test designed to see how much you can cram in one night.The assignments that teachers give are a true reflection of what you have learned, not a 50 minute exam. A timed test heightens the student’s anxiety, often causing them to perform poorly.

Heightened anxiety, worry and stress can make students do  worse because of how much pressure exams carry. Even if a student knows every single thing about the subject, they can still bomb the exam because of the pressure. Additionally, neurodivergent students who do not handle tests well and need more time are often left out of the exam process and it is difficult to obtain the needed time. So, I think that the exams being cancelled is a weight lifted off of everyone’s shoulders.

The exam curve is also not dependent on the individual student; instead, it depends on how everyone else is doing. This causes individual students to rely on each other’s performance. If most of the students do poorly, but a couple of students ace the exam, then the curve is little to none. Furthermore, you can boost your quarter grades way easier than an exam grade. Talking to teachers for extra credit and drop cards are easy ways to boost a student’s grades.

Most students forget everything they have learned for the exam right after the exam is over. Especially combined with the fact that exams are usually right before a break, which is even more of a reason for students to forget. This year’s exams were supposed to be after winter break, and let’s be honest—who studies over break?  So, teachers end up re-teaching the first semester worth of learning to the students for the final exam. Having midterms cancelled has little to no effect on review since teachers usually review content again in April and May.

In conclusion, let students truly reflect their work with an average of our grades. One singular exam cannot determine the knowledge we’ve learned throughout half of the year.