Midterms didn’t happen to me last semester. I’m in Arts, and besides that I study literature, and besides that I suppose I just got lucky. Midterms are happening to me this semester, though, don’t worry. I didn’t escape.

I’m not used to continuous assessment, being from the UK university system. It’s more than different; it’s like two people sat down and had a boring and in depth argument about the best way to teach and assess young adults, insulted each other, and then went away and made two completely opposing systems.

At home I have more reading and fewer assessments, but the assessments I do have are worth more. Usually I would have a 10% participation grade, a 40% final paper grade (we just call them essays), and a 50% or so final exam. We’re expected to participate in discussion more but take far fewer quizzes, and if we don’t do the reading then it’s our own fault if we fail the exam or write a shitty essay, and it’s our own problem, too.

Here, as I am sure you know, it’s a little different. Which is where we come to midterms, and my problem with preparing for them. In that I just… don’t know how? It’s half-way through the semester which means I only know half the stuff, so do I study for it about half as much as I would for a final exam? Or just as much? How come, if I don’t do fantastically, I can still get a fairly decent grade?

Baffled, I am. Or maybe I’m just using the confusion of school systems as an excuse to procrastinate. (That might be it, actually.)

Incidentally, two professors trading insults plus British humour equals…? Well, this: