By Daniella Ignacio ’17

Midterms. Just the word is enough for students to break a sweat. It’s the cause of one of the most stressful weeks of school, and this year it may get even worse. Discussions over possible changes to the midterm schedule took over the hallways in October. There were so many different rumors regarding the differing schedule that it’s hard to find out what is really going on.

Being a student myself, I can pretty much speak for most students when I say that we just want to be in the loop.

Although the final plan for the midterm schedule has been established, it is the fact that students are just receiving this news that makes the process frustrating. As if midterms aren’t taxing enough, now the student body must scramble to decipher all of the different bits of information that we have heard through the grapevine.

We, the people taking these exams, should not have to worry about how our midterms will be administered this late in the game.

The main problem is not so much the change in the schedule as it is the not knowing the schedule this close to our mid-year assessments. At this point, students really should know the status of the midterms that they will be studying for, crying over, and taking in less than three months.

Why? Because, at the end of the day, this testing is allegedly all for the students’ benefit.

Midterms and finals are not factored into school ranking like standardized tests are; in fact, they have a bigger role in determining a student’s academic future, as midterms count for 10 percent of a student’s final grade. That is a pretty big percentage in the grand scheme of things, especially for juniors, with 11th grade being the most crucial academic year of high school.

As a junior, I can attest to the great amount of stress that my grades have given me so far this year. Junior year is already filled with rigorous courses and standardized tests. Knowing the format of midterms earlier on would have relieved me of some of that stress. I would spend less time worrying about that and more time worrying about my actual performance on those midterms.

This issue with midterms truly emphasizes how much students need to be able to communicate directly with administrators and have their voices be heard. In turn, administrators must be much more direct with the student body and always update them on information that is pertinent to them, no matter what. Why not let students know for sure what is going on with an important issue that will affect them greatly?