This month was one of the four times of the year that cans of Red Bull and Monster can be seen on most of the student’s desks in the classrooms. Midterm is the season that keeps students stay up till they collapse. The time when students who always played games in class would delete their gaming apps. April is the official start of the school tests. Both middle and high schoolers in Cheongshim International Academy are preparing for their midterms, an important test that will count much for their grade.
The middle school 2nd and 3rd graders will be taking 3 subjects for the test: math, English, and Korean. One surprising thing is that in Korea, exams take place from the second grade of the middle school year, not the first. This is because the Korean education system encourages the students to find their passion and future career, instead of constantly studying, in the first year of middle school. For the high schoolers, the first graders take a total of 5 subjects: English, Korean, math, science, and social studies. And for the second and third graders of highschool, the number of exams for each student differs according to what class they take. This is because some classes have midterm tests as part of the grade, and some classes don’t. High schoolers are facing more pressure on the exams than middle schoolers. This is because high school exams show class and school rank, which is important for future college admissions.
Because these tests are important for both middle and high schoolers, they also try to study in many ways as much as they can. Some students are trying various plans for effective studying. For example, some write notes while others make flashcards for memorization. Some groups of friends are even making small study groups and practicing memorization by texting others. Although rank and competition are emphasized among the high school tests, most students are helping their classmates and friends with their studies. Some of them even sacrifice their study time to tutor their friends about various subjects. These students have a chance to review with how much they know by teaching others who need help.
<CSIA high school studying room for exam studies>
Some classes that have finished their April class plan allow students to self-study during class. In these classes, students can study whatever subject they want and even ask the teacher questions about what they learned. Self-studying time is often given in classes where they either finished all class plans or that are not included in the test. However, some classes are behind on classwork and are struggling to teach everything before the midterms. Because the time of when the classwork has finished is different for each class and subject, some classes that are late have complaints about having less studying time.
Even the dorms allow extra time for studying. Although the dorms normally have a lights-out policy at midnight, the time will be extended to 2am. During that time, students can either study in their dorm room or go into the study room located on each floor. However, some of the students feel that the study time is not enough, even with the extended light-out time. As a result, these students sometimes bring their LED stands or flashlights to study until later that night. And for some cases, about a week before midterms, students stay in dorms over the weekends just to study a bit more. During this time, instead of going home, some stay and study at school or their dorm.
Although the midterms are indeed important for the school year, messing up on one exam doesn’t mean the end of the world. In fact the effort given is way more precious than the final score on the test. The CSIA QUILL hopes that CSIA students give their full effort for each of their exams and receive their expected results.
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