With the air all a flurry and winter break arriving in a hurry, it’s important for all students to begin preparing for success on the final obstacle before two weeks of hot cocoa and holidays — their midterm exams.

Even though midterms won’t be conducted in person this year due to Governor Andy Beshear’s COVID-19 restrictions, they will still be held online in a non-traditional fashion. Similar to previous years, the exams will be held over three days, from December 16 to December 18. However, students will not take exams in their usual clusters of 1st and 4th period on Wednesday, 2nd and 5th period on Thursday, and 3rd and 6th period on Friday. Instead, exams will be taken based on the subject they’re covering.

For example, on Wednesday, December 16, the first exam slot is from 8:15 AM to 9:15 AM, and all students who will be taking any exam for an English class will take their exam during this time frame. 

The second slot on Wednesday goes from 9:30 AM to 1:45 PM and is called a “performance” exam slot. During a performance slot, teachers for classes requiring an in-person exam, be it orchestra, band, AP Seminar, or a world language, will arrange a time for their students to come in and take the exam during that time frame. 

The final slot on Wednesday will be similar to the first, lasting only from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM, and providing the first slot in which elective teachers can choose to hold an online exam. All psychology students, whether in AP or regular, will be taking their exam in this period, too. 

Thursday and Friday will have the same time slots for exams as Wednesday, but will have different classes administering exams in those time slots. On Thursday, the 8-9 slot will be reserved for the administration of science exams, the 9:30-1:45 slot will be a second performance slot, and the 2-3 slot will be reserved for those taking a social studies or health/PE exam. For Friday, the 8-9 slot is reserved for a math exam, the performance slot remains the same, and the 2-3 slot will be an elective slot. 

Essentially, students will have anywhere from one to three exams per day depending on the slots their teachers choose to administer the exams. Some performance-based exams, such as AP Seminar, may also run through all three days, yet students will be assigned only one day to come in by their teacher. 

Similar to years prior, midterm exams will account for 20% of a student’s midterm grade, so exams, though mostly online, should not be taken too lightly. This year, no exemptions are offered to any freshman, sophomores, or juniors. Seniors are exempt from all of their midterms in which they have a “B” average or higher in the class. 

To help prepare for midterm exams, check out the “Twelve Days of Exam Prep” article (coming soon!) for an easy schedule to follow when getting ready for exams.