Students face midterm blues

Midterms are here and students at the University of South Dakota are preparing for the week. Although it is only halfway through the semester, midterms are designed to test students of the material they have learned these past few weeks in the forms of tests, projects, or papers. Either way, students are in full swing preparing for the week.

Each student has a different way of preparing for a test or project, however the goal is the same for every student, to pass and continue the rest of the semester on a successful path.

Junior Sadie Bauck believes although she is loaded with papers, projects and tests, midterms can be beneficial to students.

“It is a good wake up call, it shows you where you are at (in the class) and what you need to do,” said Bauck.

Professor Brian Begley, who is requiring a paper for his World Cinema class, believes that midterms is a good halfway point for students because it gives them an idea of where they are and what they need to do to succeed more in the classroom.

“Education is not like food, you can’t just sit there and eat food, it is like exercising, you have to work at it,” Begley said. Although writing a paper isn’t “exercising” or “testing” the brain, it is a chance for students to put in their own words and expand what they have learned, which can be just as beneficial to students as a test.

But is the word “midterm” a reason for students to freak out about their grades and reflect on their past study habits? Not necessarily. Yes, for most students this means some form of test over the past few weeks, but it can be more of an eye opener. Students get the chance to see where they stand, this can be beneficial especially for first year students with it being their first semesters.

Sophomore Megan Lewno looks at her Economics test as just another test because she believes there is no reason to stress out.

“Students should not stress out. Study on your own time and get plenty of sleep,” said Lewno.

Begley, Lewno, and Bauck all believe that students should not cram at the last second, it does not help with preparing and it causes unwanted stress, which can ultimately make a student do worse on the midterm.

Begley wants students to, “start early and keep up (with studying) and don’t cram at the last second would be my advice. If you keep up you should be fine.”