Each year, as the school year inches towards mid year exams, we all start scrambling to gather our notes from September. We start filling our calendars with chapters that we’re going to study each week and start texting our friends so that we can meet up and freak out together. But then we realize that we’ve learned things slightly differently or learned slightly different things. This sparks the question of whether or not uniform midyears are fair. Should each teacher create his or her own midyear so there are multiple forms of the midyear — MULTIform midyears — or should we stick to the current system of a uniform midyear?

Many students seem to understand the concerns that come with one uniform midyear. “One important concern are the varying testing styles. Different teachers write their test questions differently, and thus the students who have the main test writer may have an unfair advantage. However, I think this can be resolved as long as each teacher contributes equally to writing the midyear rather than having a single teacher compose the whole exam,” said Christina Kwan ’17.

“I believe that making the midyear a uniform exam is okay to the extent that all teachers are involved and are creating the test together so they can confirm that every one of their students has been taught all of the content on the exam,” said Alif Matin ’19. The consensus seems to be that a uniform midyear is a good system as long as all  teachers contribute to the making of a test.

But why not do away with uniform midyears altogether? Wouldn’t it be better for the students to take a test that their teacher and only their teacher designed?

“It’s important for all students to be given uniform midyears because that way, we can have low grades dropped, and it’s usually a large part of our grade,” said Annica Azad ’17.“Due to it having a significant impact on every student’s grade, it should be standard so that no one can claim that one test was easier than another,” Matin added.

Uniform midyears are thus blessings disguised as a curse because they give students an equal opportunity to boost their grades, which is crucial when it concerns a significant percentage of one’s grade.  

“Regardless of your teacher’s teaching style, you should know the topics because you have to know the material for the Regents exams.”

Alviena Rahman ’19 also acknowledges the importance of a uniform midyear when she brings up the fact that the Regents we take at the end of the year are uniform as well. She believes that because everyone is being tested at one standard there, a uniform midyear is a good way to prepare us for that.

“Regardless of your teacher’s teaching style, you should know the topics because you have to know the material for the Regents exams. In addition, Bronx Science has many resources to help you in your endeavors,” said Rahman.

Evidently, many of Bronx Science’s students believe that uniform midyears are better than MULTIform.