That is the name I suggest in place of the word “midterms.” Midterms are never given at the midpoint of the semester, which is where I’m assuming the “mid” comes from in midterms.
There is often a standard deviation of about a month to the left and right of the midpoint in terms of when we encounter our midterms. This semester, my first midterm was due on September 26th, and my final one is on November 18th.
In case you’re wondering, the midpoint of the semester was this week.
How many midterms did I actually have this week? Four. How many fall outside of this week? Nine.
I suggest Penn stops calling these tests ‘midterms,’ and I offer my own suggestion for a new name: Betwerms.
It’s better because it derives from the word “between,” saying that it is just a test between the beginning and the end of the term, and it does not mislead students to think that it’s anywhere near the middle of the semester.
My Biology 121 midterm was directly one hour before my final. You tell me how that deserves to be called a midterm, and I’ll give you a reason why Pokemon can’t be considered the best television show of all time.
With this ‘midterm season’ coming to an end (midterm season, I’m guessing is a cool-kid reference to when roughly 25-50% of your midterms take place), we are all knee-deep in new, time-consuming activities. Family Weekend, Homecoming, winter shopping, Halloween celebrating, stock investing, the list goes on.
I have a lot of other things I like to do with my time, and I’d rather five midterms on the same, finite day.
This allows me to stay in my study mode, and allows for only one day a semester that I finish my tests and say, “Thank god that is over. I miss my bed.”
But alas, professors even out the pain over an entire semester, and midterms become integrated in our identities of who we are (stressed, mindless fools).
Sigh.
They should be called betwerms, and Pokemon will always be the best show ever made.
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November 9th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
[...] stressful time. The due date for the paper you’ve been putting off is drawing closer and your last midterms are finally in sight. Even if you don’t have intense coursework, the thought of Thanksgiving [...]
November 14th, 2008 at 2:29 am
[...] that I never feel like doing, spending money on textbooks that I never feel like reading, “midterms” that occur approximately every 20 minutes and professors who make me feel like I should not [...]