Semester exams are coming up on December 17-18. To be exempt from semester exams, a student must have no more than four absences and a ‘B’ average in their class. Although being exempt from semester exams means a student will not be required to take it, it does not mean that they cannot take it; in fact, taking semester exams can be beneficial apart from improving a grade.

“I think that it helps them with their study habits, I think it helps them prepare to go to a higher education route,” Assistant Principal Mrs. Graham states. “If they’re going to a four-year university or a two-year university, a lot of those courses do require you to take a semester exam or a ‘final,’ and a lot of times our kids get to college and they’re not prepared because they have been exempt from semester exams so they don’t really know how to study for those types of tests, so it will help them in that aspect.”

Semester exams may be quite stressful and exhausting, but there are many ways for students to prepare ahead of time if they plan to take the exams. “I would think you’d keep good notes all semester, I would think that you’d make some note cards over each unit that you studied, and you’d want to slowly study for that semester exam;” Mrs. Graham says, “I would start preparing about a month in advance for that semester exam, and I’d be looking over my stuff probably two or three nights a week up until you take the semester exam.”

If an exempt student takes exams and gets a grade that could harm their average, there is no need to fret, a lot of teachers will decide to drop this grade so it will not harm you. “When I taught, I taught Chemistry here, if I had a student that chose to take the semester exam and it lowered their grade, I did not take it. And I think the majority of our teachers here have that policy, but I think that that is up to the teacher and what they want to do – that’s their decision,” Mrs. Graham says. However, keep in mind that this is only the case for students exempt from the exam; if a student is not exempt, the grade they make on the test will be kept in the system, whether it helps or hurts them.