Midterms are always stressful. Spending countless hours studying for an exam that you know will be the hardest one you’ve ever taken is never fun. Despite this, it seems that the annoying time in the middle of the school year for midterms would be a lot more pleasant if GA made a slight scheduling change.
Picture this: midterms before winter break. If midterms came before our two-week-long winter break, not only would the results be better, but students would be happier. GA girls would have improved grades because they’d be less likely to forget material, and they would have calmer breaks to let them rest after surviving roughly half of the school year. Furthermore, students would even perform better in school if they were able to use the break to decompress and not stress.
Junior Arya Pelletier ‘27 told GAP that she would much rather take her exam before winter break. She said that taking midterms earlier would help her and allow her to “enjoy break.” If midterms came sooner, she would “not have to stress.” And she’s not alone. Sophomore Jada Matin ’28 agrees: “Having exams after makes break more stressful because you’re preoccupied with exams.” Even a freshman who hasn’t taken upper school exams yet is on Arya and Jada’s side. Ileah Liekefett ’29 said “taking midterms before break would allow us to enjoy the time off without midterms always on our minds.” It’s unanimous!
Even teachers agree. One teacher feels that it’d be better for midterms to be before the new year because “you can get them done and enjoy your break.” So, preparing for midterms can be tough, but the upper school certainly thinks that having them earlier would be beneficial.
What do you think? When should GA have midterm exams?
