Starting Tuesday, Dec. 20, midterm week at MSD begins. Similar to previous years, students are able to exempt up to three different subjects. The criteria for exemption is a “B” or higher for both first and second quarter final grades. Additionally, students are not permitted to exempt exams for AP classes.
There was a strict deadline for the exemption form, which had to be turned in on Friday, Dec. 16 by 2:45 p.m. If a student forgot to turn their exemption form in, or aren’t eligible to exempt any exams, they are required to take all seven tests.
The average amount of exemption forms turned in were approximately 2,800 according to Assistant Principal Lucille Flynn. About 80 to 85 percent of students at MSD qualify to exempt at least one exam.
“This year, the most popular classes to exempt are periods one, two and four because period one and two are on a Friday, and period four is on a Thursday, so they have the whole week to study,” said guidance secretary Carla Thonsgaard.
Midterms and quarter grades are combined to create the semester grade. This combination can work in the favor of students. For instance, if one receives an “A” first quarter and a “B” second quarter and an “A” on their midterm, they will receive an “A” as a semester grade on their transcript. However, this also works inversely as students who have two “A’s” for quarter grades, but earn a “D” on the midterm, will receive a “B” as their semester grade.
Besides Monday, every day of midterm week follows a schedule according to period of exam. Students take their seventh period exam first and their first period exam last. The first testing block begins at 7:40 a.m. and the second starts at 9:45 a.m. If one does not have a midterm during one of these times, they are allowed to go home.
For the freshmen class, this will be the first round of midterms they take in high school.
“It is a little nerve wrecking taking midterms for the first time but I’m hoping I will do well by studying about one to two hours a day. I’m going to school on Thursday and Friday, so I can have more time to study during the week.” freshman Isabella Gomez said.
To conquer this stress, regardless of if one is a freshman, teachers recommend a healthy breakfast. In addition to breakfast, International Journal of Neuroscience recommends eating peppermint gum or mints as the flavor increases alertness and provides a calming effect. Dark chocolate improves memory and stimulates stress reduction as well, according to Good News Network.
Teachers are encouraged to grade midterms before winter break begins. The Broward County Public School Board highly recommends that teachers put all of the grades for the second quarter in to pinnacle before the break as well.
As students push through the struggles of studying for midterms, the light at the end of the tunnel is a two-week winter break from school.
