Eighth-grade students have been having high levels of stress and are frantically studying just minutes before their semester exams in math and world languages this week. The grade they receive on the exam transfers over to their high school grade since they are in a freshman class and can make or break their grades.

Kids in middle school already have high levels of stress with big tests and projects every week. The addition of the big exams adds a tremendous amount of pressure on the students.

The students currently enrolled in Algebra, Geometry, Spanish 1, and German 1 are faced with three exams throughout the school year.  As the days slowly count down to the dreaded exam day, the time to study shrinks by the second and slips away from everyone.

As the morning of the first exam of the semester drew nearer, teachers began reviewing the entire semesters worth of material and students were exhausted by the end of the school day but continued to stay up late studying.

The morning of the first exams was hectic with jittery students walking the halls and pacing up and down until the first bell rang. The students could have had the exam any time during the day and many were lucky that they had it after lunch so they had more time to study.

The students in Mrs. Schreindl’s first-hour science class opened their notes and frantically read through everything as quickly as they could. Many students finished class early and had more time to rummage through their notes one last time.

As Mrs. Murphy’s third-hour class was about to begin their first exam, the students looked around at each other nervously and the clock didn’t slow. As they were handed the six-page long exam, the clock didn’t bother to slow down and all the information seemed to slip from their minds.

The kids were faced with a tremendous amount of pressure and stress this past week. Many people believe that the kids should not be faced with these kinds of environments and they should wait until high school while some think it prepares them for high school scenarios.

While the kids finish up their first exam, they finally find themselves at the end of the day but have to repeat the same day like a time machine studying for the next exam.