Advisor’s Note: “Then and Now” is a new idea for story submissions in Cardinal Nation. In the past we have shared stories from previous Mentor High School newspapers including The Mentor Log and Inkwell. Now, beyond just sharing those “blasts from the past,” we ask questions about what has changed, what has stayed the same, and what does the future hold.
Then
Semester Exams Are No More
December 1965, Mentor Log
Semester exams have been eliminated. They simply are no more.
The teachers are glad and the students are glad – but should these schoolmates really be so glad?
Is this new concept beneficial to good students? If one gets straight A’s now, he cannot get out of taking the final exam.
And if the student has an unexcused absence for the day of the final, he will not receive the usual “F” for only the test grade. He will flunk the course for the entire year.
What about the poorer students? Does this make the grading system any easier on them? It’s just one less grade to average in. The student no longer has a “last” chance to improve his six-weeks grade. He will have to settle with all of the work he does – or doesn’t do during the six weeks.
With this change, graduating students may not feel too blessed either. One-seventh of their final grade could keep them from feeling too exuberantly happy.
Now
Semester Exams Are… Back
December 2024
Mentor Schools bid farewell to semester exams nearly six decades ago—yet, like a ghost from the past, they have risen somewhere between 1965 and 2024 to haunt students once again. This year, Mentor’s mid-term exams will occur on December 18th, 19th, and 20th, right before students leave for winter break from December 23rd to January 6th.
As evident in the article from The Mentor Log, students and teachers had seemingly rejoiced at Mentor’s decision to eliminate semester exams altogether in 1965. The author, however, raised concerns about the implications of this decision—facing a mandatory final exam despite earning straight As, the risk of failing a course due to an unexcused absence on the day of the final, and losing one last opportunity for a semester grade boost. If administration found it feasible to eliminate midterms back in 1965, this raises the question—do midterm exams really benefit us in the realm of high school academics?
Today, researchers have found that around 31% of students attribute midterm and final exams as two of their top stressors. Students feel significant anxiety about the necessity of preparing for their exams amidst homework, assignments, and extracurriculars. Research even indicates that up to 60% of students have test anxiety that interferes with their academic performance. Inevitable exam stress can lead to a lack of sleep, little appetite, and low self-esteem.
“I feel more stressed this year because of the late Thanksgiving break,” says junior Olivia West, who balances a rigorous course load of AP classes. “It feels like midterms crept up on us and there wasn’t much time to prepare. Only one of my classes has given us a midterm study guide; the rest are giving them the week-of. I even have a unit test on the Monday of the week of midterms.”
Traditionally, midterm exams at Mentor were held after winter break, but in recent years, they have been rescheduled to the period between Thanksgiving break and winter break. This change aimed to allow students to fully enjoy their holidays without the looming stress of upcoming exams; yet, for many, it’s a missed opportunity to study.
“I feel like a lot of teachers aren’t covering review in class and with extracurriculars and added assignments and homework, I’m struggling a bit to adequately prepare for midterms,” adds student Aishu Pandit, who has to juggle her classes with extracurriculars like Speech and Debate and Top 25.
As students, we can attribute most of our pre-exam midterm anxiety to their ability to make or break our grades. Semester grades, which are determined by factoring in a student’s performance during Quarter 1, Quarter 2, and the midterm exam, are the final grades recorded on transcripts and reviewed by colleges during the admissions process. Rather than being worth around 14% of a student’s final semester grade, as it was in 1965, midterm exams are now weighted at 20%—leaving students with higher stakes as they study.
Advocates for semester exams argue that such assessments provide an understanding of students’ learning, motivation for studying, and feedback to teachers. Yet, with tests, quizzes, and other assessments dotted across each quarter, it can also be argued that semester exams are simply redundant. Content preceding midterm exams is hardly revisited since final exams typically only cover the second semester, leaving minimal room for improvement.
As of the 2022-23 school year, Mentor has expanded its offering of exam incentives, allowing some students to be exempted from their final exam. Now, if a student has straight As every quarter, takes the course’s AP exam, or earns a high enough score on the course’s Ohio State Test, they no longer have to take the corresponding final exam.
Although MHS eliminated semester exams back in 1965, the reality for students is that midterms continue to haunt us now in 2024. As midterms approach and study time dwindles, it is important to prioritize mitigating stress and remember that getting a good night’s sleep (seven to nine hours) may be more beneficial than last-minute cramming.
Good luck with midterms, MHS!
