Written By Mary Muratori |

Midterms mark progress of your school work  halfway through the year. They are  big tests and seem scary, but if you study and know your material, it should be a breeze. (Plus there’s the perk of leaving at 12 everyday because two tests only take four hours.)  Many teachers will tell students the same thing: “studying pays off.”  Make sure that you take a lot of notes; some, not all, teachers will allow you to use a small note card to put information on to refer to during to the test.  This is very helpful and is advised if you’re given the option. It’s nice to have some notes on items that you have been struggling with during the school year.

Most midterms consist of either  multiple choice questions, true and false, and some short answers. There may be the occasional essay as well.  Don’t speed through them, and take your time. Two hours will go by very fast if you pace yourself and take your time. It seems like a long time, but in all honesty, it flies by when you focus your attention on the test. “When I was a freshmen and first started taking the midterms, I was very freaked out because two hours seemed like a long time, but to be honest, it went by very fast because I focused on the test,” says Rachel Benton.

Since these tests are a very big portion of your grade(20% of your semester grade and a 5th of your grade), try to focus on studying and taking notes, and paying attention to all the study guides given to you. Teachers want everyone to pass; they will do everything they can to get the students prepared. Most teachers don’t want you taking their class again.  Sometimes study groups are a good option; sometimes they are not. “I like the ideas of study groups, but only in the library. When you’re at someone’s house, it can be a bit distracting. In the library at least, you need to be quiet,” Katelyn Long says. If you think your friends are going to be distracting or vice versa, it might not help. Sometimes it does. If a student chose to listen to music while studying, try not to listen to something that will get you distracted.  “I love listening to music when I study, but I need soothing music because loud and rambunctious music doesn’t allow me to focus on the task at hand,” Rachel says.

Here the link to the faculty page, go to the teacher’s page to see if they have posted any study guides or see what hours they are here to stay after school for help. Most teachers have websites that offer some study guides that you can print out.