Midterms, papers necessary for learning

Burke is a third-year political science and English student.

By David Burke

The last ten days of my academic life were every student’s
worse nightmare. Not only did I have two midterms that counted for
a significant portion of my grade, but I also wrote two lengthy
papers, took a quiz, did a journal assignment, and read what
amounted to over 500 pages (about a less than ideal subject: Dark
Age state building).

But I was not upset about my workload. I know it serves a
valuable purpose. In my third year at this fine university, one of
the many significant things I have learned is that papers, midterms
and finals help me gain a better understanding of the material I am
studying.

Midterms serve various purposes within the scope of a class:
many have either an enormous amount of material ““ material
that can appropriately be broken up into sections or material that
is so essential to understanding a course that a midterm testing
students on the fundamental concepts is vital. Midterms also
function to let students know where they stand in the course, what
concepts they thoroughly understand, and what concepts they need to
focus on more in order to fully grasp their importance and
relevance.

In fact, the idea of having only one exam or one paper to assess
your understanding of an entire course’ material, as Sony
Barari suggested in “Midterms
useless; one test is enough,” (Viewpoint, Feb. 15) is
ludicrous. Barari contends that nobody studies for midterms anyway,
so we should just do away with them altogether. But if students
don’t study enough to grasp four weeks of material how can we
expect them to study for a final and grasp ten weeks of material?
If people don’t have the time or dedication to study for a
class more than once or twice a quarter, they should get out of
college, because that’s what we’re all here to do.

Is there any need to take a class with only one exam for which
students will inevitably cram and then forget the material
immediately afterward? Won’t students learn a lot more from a
class if they have to write a paper about a topic and take a couple
of exams? Maybe some people go to school exclusively to flirt with
other students in class and to drink with their friends, but
I’m here to learn as well as to engage in these
activities.

This brings me to my proposal: every class should have at least
one midterm and a final. And if a paper or weekly responses are
appropriate ““ as in an English class ““ those should be
mandatory too. I do not know anybody enrolled at UCLA who works so
hard that they don’t have time to do a little more work.
People will remember the material a lot better if they have more
assignments than if they only have one.

Midterms, papers and other assignments actually help students on
a cumulative final. The division of grades among multiple
assignments also allows students a chance to make a mistake on a
particular exam or assignment and to utilize their strengths,
whatever they may be, to do better on others.

We are students at a top-flight university. We are beyond the
“too cool for school” attitude and we are here to
learn. I am too mature to take a half-assed approach to my
education. Everybody who has ever attended college has had to take
hundreds of exams and write countless papers before they could move
on to other things. College would not be as worthwhile an
experience if every quarter consisted of only one examination for
every class.

It’s easy to make jokes and say that midterms are a waste
of time and that college students have better things to do with
their lives than take tests. But midterms are not a waste of time
and college students really do not have better things to do with
their lives.

So professors, please heed my message: test us! Make sure that
your students are following along with the course material and that
they understand the fundamental concepts at the heart of the
course. College is about learning and the best way to learn
something is to use your newly acquired knowledge in some manner,
whether it be writing a paper or taking a test.

So give me a test or make me write a paper, because I am here to
learn. Believe me, college students will always find time to mess
around.