By: Noor Haq (Correspondent)

At Sharon High School, it is the time of year where students start getting nervous, anxious, and tired. It is time for midyears. The students at Sharon High School have a lot to say about the long cumulative tests. Many say it is unnecessary and causes unnecessary stress and also negatively impacts the way they learn. 

Students have to study too much information for six classes and they don’t have enough time to prepare, says Konstantinos Kalogeras, an SHS senior. “I think that the midyears are a neceassary part of our grades, but are done too forcefully. Some teachers don’t understand the stress that students face while they are studying for midyears because they are trying to cram a semester’s worth of information for six classes into their heads in a week. I also think that students don’t get enough time to prepare,” said Kalogeras. 

Midyears are a waste of time and do not help to learn the curriculum, says Daniel Okstein, a sophomore at Sharon High School. “I don’t think midyears positively affect my learning because it’s just a lot of cramming and we have to learn a lot of material that we learned months ago. We have to rememorize it and just kind of spit it back out for the test and the class will never go over it again, so if we are not really understanding it we’re just memorizing it, I think it’s a waste of time and it just causes a lot of unnecessary stress,” said Okstein. 

Midyears cause students a lot of unwanted stress, says Daphne Theiler, a sophomore at Sharon High School. “I think midyears cause students a lot of unnecessary stress. People stress over things they know and overwork themselves,” said Theiler. 

“I think that some classes do it well and there are more project-based or more general ideas for midyears, but I feel that long tests are often tough for students,” added Theiler. 

The midyears force a lot of stress and cramming on students, but they are also helpful, says Grahm Aiken, a junior at Sharon High School. “I think midyears are tough and very labor-intensive. A lot of the midyear exams require the students to cram last minute. However, the midyear exams do help build resistance to pressure from cumulative tests. It also helps with your test-taking ability. I personally, would prefer no midyears but they do a good job with testing how much students know,” said Aiken. 

Midyears are fine, but teachers do still give a lot of work during the preparation week, says Athena Merck, a sophomore at Sharon High School. “I think midyears are okay. I feel like a lot of teachers give you preparation time, but I also feel like some teachers just bombard you with work, and it’s just a lot to deal with especially during the week before midyears,” said Merck. 

Midyears are stupid and too much of the school year relies on the test, says Adeeb Ahmad, a junior. “I think that midyears, in theory, are kind of stupid because so much is relying on one test and that is ridiculous, but what can you do? Why can’t teachers let us remember stuff?,” said Ahmad.  

Midyears cause a lot of stress, says Ethan Cooperman, another sophomore at Sharon High School. “I don’t like midyears. The first reason is mainly that midyears cause a lot of stress. I think a lot of kids get stressed out about it and they feel like they have to cram, which I personally don’t get that stressed out from midyears, but I know that’s a problem for a lot of students,” said Cooperman. 

An even bigger problem than all the stress is the fact that midyears ruin the fun of school, says Cooperman. “The fact that we have to take two weeks in the middle of the year to stop all learning in order to review things is really annoying because you want to be able to just learn for fun. For midyears, you are only learning material to take a test, which is not good in the long run,” said Cooperman. 

Midyears are a good way to review the first half of the year, but they cause too much stress, says Inbal Alkalay, a sophomore. “On one hand, I think midyears are good because you review a lot of information obviously and that helps you in the long run, but at the same time the amount of stress that is put on us as students is ridiculous,” said Alkalay.