Students, we are entering the most stressful time of the school year. The end of a semester is a stressful time for students across the nation, who are filled with realizations of the upcoming exam madness. This year at Episcopal, several students are experiencing this madness for the first time.

Episcopal transitioned the grading period from having two seperate quarters in each semester, to two separate semesters. This change is difficult for some students because most are familiar with their grades “resetting” every quarter. Although it seems much harder to maintain one’s desired grades, the one benefit of the semester is that one really bad grade doesn’t destroy your average. Having a bad day and doing poorly on one assessment doesn’t ruin your entire semester grade.  

When asked about the small change this year, Reid Hampton ‘20 said, “I like it better this year because you get to see your grades more often because of progress reports. On the old system you could only see your grades a few times before the end of the semester, but now you can see it more frequently.” 

In the end, one positive about switching from the quarter system is that it gives students a small taste of what college will be like, since most colleges utilize the semester system.

Image courtesy of Jonah Hodo ’20.