Many students are looking forward to Winter Break starting this week, but first, they must get through the busy week of mid-year assessments. In past years the last week leading up to Winter Break was for midterms only. Students would spend weeks studying to prepare for their exams, then come into school to take them on a modified schedule. The midterms were 20% of a grade for the class and were usually a multiple-choice test. So how are midterms different this year? This year CHS technically doesn’t have “mid-terms,” and will be addressed as “mid-year assessments.” Teachers choose how they administer these assessments and choose how much they go towards a student’s grade. The reason for these assessments is to make sure the school has data for classes that execute SOLs at the end of the year. Students will come to school on a regular schedule the week of December 14 through December 17. Some CHS students participated in an interview about how they are preparing for these mid-year assessments.

Katherine McGrath, 12: “To prepare for my assessments mentally, I’m making sure I’m getting enough sleep, cutting back on caffeine, and eating breakfast.”

Venetia Smith, 12: “I would say I’m really just getting my mind ready. I’m prepping myself and my body. I study for about half an hour. It’s all about confidence going into it, and I know I’ll ace it. A lot of my teachers are giving some sort of assessment. Some are doing actual tests and some are doing projects. In English, I have a sonnet project. It feels much more manageable this year.”

Corin St. Ours, 12: “I’m not really preparing much this because I don’t really have any information about the mid-year assessments, so I don’t think I have them.”

Jesse Thomas, 12: “I’m just trying to graduate this year, I’m doing everything I can to pass these assessments, but only one teacher is giving an assessment this year.” 

It sounds like this year is much less stressful than the years prior at CHS, which makes the week leading up to winter break more manageable.