Midterms Through The Years

Midterms are fast approaching and unlike the nervous freshmen, seniors, like myself, are quite relaxed. We’ve taken these daunting midterm exams three times, and at last, they aren’t giving anyone a heart attack. While we’re easing into midterms this year, it was not so easy for us three years ago.

“As a freshman, I was terrified going into midterms because I didn’t know what to expect. I was so unsure of how to study, and I ended up over-preparing,” senior Isabel Lariño said.

Midterms were frightening, confusing, and overwhelming for the seniors when they were freshmen. As a freshman it’s quite difficult going into midterms because this is the first big exam of your life. As a freshman nobody quite knows how to prepare for these intimidating two hour tests that cover a semester full of information. Nobody knew when to start studying and how much studying was enough to get a desirable grade.

“Going into my freshmen year, I felt nervous. I was unsure of how to begin to study and I did not understand the scheduling of midterms,” senior Sarah Bellis said. Senior Dillon O’Shea reflected similarly to Bellis and said, “I felt very nervous going into my first round of midterms mostly because of the uncertainty. I didn’t really know what to expect or how to study for each subject.”

After having taken midterm and final exams for three years, seniors have ultimately said goodbye to their amateur study techniques and adopted new ones. For most, the 500 index cards for each subject are long gone and the disorganized notes are at last organized notes.

“The way that I study for midterms has definitely changed since I was a freshman. I’m doing a lot more hands-on studying like practicing old problems and going over old notes. Bellis admits that she has shifted away from index cards and said, “I made more flashcards on paper cards my freshman year, and now I just used study guides or quizlet. Writing the cards out doesn’t help me as much anymore.”

Hopefully this year, in the class of 2018’s final time taking midterms at Darien High School, they won’t have any bad experiences, but almost all can recount a bad memory from midterms or finals. Sorry current freshmen, but I promise that most of you won’t go through these exams without experiencing some sort of issue.

“I woke up on makeup day and for some reason thought I had an exam. I came to school in a blind panic with no idea what exam I was supposed to take,” Lariño said. Senior Emily Knapp unfortunately had a rough time with finals during her junior year. “I remember getting sick the week of finals my junior year and being so worried about missing them. I had to go in extra days into the summer to retake them which was awful so don’t get sick. And some people might think extra days help, but they really don’t. It’s better just to take them and get it over with,” Knapp said.

While midterms may seem like an impossible task as a freshman, the seniors can reassure that it does in fact get easier.

“I’m feeling a lot more relaxed going into midterms this year. I have a lot more practice taking big exams, so I know the exact amount to prepare and the way to attack the tests. I also am already accepted into college so I don’t have that “do or die” a lot of sophomores and juniors feel with exams,” Lariño said.