Students Reflect on Midterm Grades
By ANGELA HE, ELAINE QIAO, ETHAN LU, HEMANI STALLARD, LEO ZHANG
Every year, students receive midterm grades from their teachers to notify them of how they’re doing in classes. This year, students received their midterm grades on Wednesday, Oct. 18. Many students expressed concerns of lower grades as compared to previous terms and alleged grade deflation, notably within the mathematics and history departments, as the reason to blame. While the administration asserts that there have been no discussions of or attempts at grade deflation, students think otherwise.
With the recent release of midterm grades to Exeter’s campus, it has become evident that grade deflation has taken a toll on some students, while others see the positive side of this new grading. Lower Wayne Zheng shared his experiences with midterms, “So my midterms this year in general is definitely worse than my prep year…I feel like it could be because lower year things have gotten harder and I gotta put more work in but also maybe it’s because of new grade deflation policies and all that,” he said.
Upper Sam Benochi shared similar sentiments, commenting that, “My grades aren’t too bad but they’re getting worse and worse as the years go by.” Benochi continued, sharing the impact she feels as a result of the alleged grade deflation. “ I do have concerns because this year is my Upper year and I really need to get good grades for college, but it’s not looking good right now,” she said.
Upper Minjae Suh added to this viewpoint saying, “I think that’s because a lot of the teachers tell us that they’re going to grade lower than our actual grade, because they think that it’s going to motivate us to do better to get a better final grade. But, for me, that doesn’t work because I get motivated when I see that I’m doing well in something. And so if I get a bad midterm grade, the opposite happens, where I’m like, ‘oh, I’m no good at this’”
However, upper Mackenzie Carty offered an alternate viewpoint, stating: “ I think that grade deflation is more of a focus on grading on what you actually know rather than the letter grades that you get. I know that even if it’s a bad Midterm grade and I understood everything, I am still proud of myself.”
Many students reference the new Math department policy, which removed retakes and corrections on major assignments, as a reason for decreased grades at midterms. Upper Bella Jin expressed her desire for the return of retakes and corrections, citing an increased incentive to revisit and learn the material. She explained, “I would add retakes because I feel like improvement and acknowledging your past mistakes are also very important to the study of sciences and math in general. I believe that they will encourage students to look back on their problems. When I receive a test back, I just see the grade and I don’t really go back to the problems that I did wrong. If there were corrections and retakes, it would encourage me to look over them again, and then strengthen my understanding of the materials that we were taught in class.”
Zheng echoed these sentiments. “Mainly I would like test retakes to be allowed in all departments, whether it be for half or even a third or a quarter of the credit. retakes on tests. Because right now, if there are no retakes available, I have no incentive to look at a test, learn what I did wrong, and correct it. But if there are retakes available, then I have a reason to go back and learn what I missed.”
Suh also brought up the impact that corrections and retakes have on a student’s relationship with their teachers. “Asking for a retake also opens opportunities to talk with your teacher about why you want to retake, why you think your test didn’t go well, or how you’re doing in the class,” she said.
On the contrary, the administration asserts that “grade deflation” policies have been nonexistent. Instead, the only change regarding grading has been a change to the math departament grading policy. Dean Laura Marshall explained, “I am unaware of any grading policies aside from the math department that has reaffirmed the department scale that the department has used for decades (e.g. a 75% is a B-).”
Marshall also remarked that this recent trend of grade inflation was not unique to Exeter: “Grade inflation has been a nationwide issue for decades. It does not necessarily benefit students. It also places more importance on standardized tests. And, yes, during Covid grades inflated quite drastically.” She further commented that: “As a school, we are working toward more consistency within departments in terms of expectations and more transparency in communicating expectations to students.”
PEA students have expressed that they understand the reasoning behind the new grading policies but also that many feel at odds with them. Returning students have also noted that these new policies have caused midterms this year to feel noticeably more difficult than last year. In particular, many have felt the effects of the removal of test retakes and corrections. Many feel that test retakes and corrections provide a valuable incentive for students to learn the material to a greater depth than they would have otherwise.
