# "Midterm week" at college - huh? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 9, 2014, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midterm-week-at-college-huh/688062 "2014-05-09T16:34:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midterm-week-at-college-huh/688062/21 "2014-05-10T18:05:10Z")
> [@yellowjacketcoder](#): > > At my alma mater (Georgia Tech, for those not familiar with college mascots) it was an unofficial but very real thing. The college had drop day for the semester about halfway through the semester, and a policy that at least some significant coursework must be returned to the student before drop day (presumably so they could know if they were hopeless lost or doing fine before the dropped the course). The end result was that a lot of professors just scheduled a midterm exam for the week before drop day, so we had an unofficial midterm week. Another Yellow Jacket here, and yes, it was a real thing because of Drop Day. Now that I think about it, it’s kind of strange that we had the midterm thing because back when I was at Tech, we were on the quarter system. You really only had a few weeks before the start of class to the mid-term to get your shit together. Under a semester system, you don’t get that same level of frenziness since there’s more time to catch-up if you’re falling behind. Perhaps that why I was always stressed out of my mind in college. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midterm-week-at-college-huh/688062/22 "2014-05-10T18:20:45Z")
More often than not, it’s probably just the week that occurs chronologically half-way through the term, and they mark it on the calendar. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midterm-week-at-college-huh/688062/23 "2014-05-10T19:21:47Z")
> [@GESancMan](#): > > They’ve asked me for a couple of things, so I know they’re looking at my resume, but they haven’t offered an interview yet. If they do, I figure this question would be a good one for the “do you have any questions for us?” part. 🙂 Yes, I think this is a good question to ask them. Where I went, we had a quarter system, with 2 mid terms and a final for math and technical classes. Except for DC Fundamentals. Sort of. The week before finals week, the instructor told another student and me to hang around for a couple minutes after class. After everyone else had left, he told us, “Look, you both got As on your mid terms and As on all your labs. I don’t seen any point in wasting your time making you take a final or wasting my time grading your final. You’ve got an A on your final and for the class. I’ve enjoyed having you as students. Good luck.” ---
**Author:** ![BlakeTyner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@BlakeTyner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlakeTyner)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2014, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midterm-week-at-college-huh/688062/24 "2014-05-11T15:59:37Z")
Midterm exams don’t really surprise me either way. Some places make it official, while others don’t. My institution does not require a midterm exam, nor the reporting of midterm grades; however, when I was an adjunct for the college in the next town over, they required that D’s and F’s be reported via CampusConnect at midterm. It was up to me whether to give a major exam or simply run a current average. The midterm grade did not appear on the students’ transcripts or anywhere else, so I assume it was for the student development folks to be able to get in touch with struggling students and perhaps let them know about tutoring, TRIO, etc. I’d agree that it’s basically decided by course content. I had some classes where there were only 2 grades: midterm and final exams. I don’t recall any of us bitching about it. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midterm-week-at-college-huh/688062/25 "2014-05-11T16:42:30Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Another Yellow Jacket here, and yes, it was a real thing because of Drop Day. Here is the [PDF](http://www.facultygovernance.gatech.edu/FacultyHandbook_January_2013.pdf) of the GIT faculty handbook. Midterm exams are _not mentioned anywhere in it_. There is some picky crap about Finals (which are required except when the prof decides the course doesn’t need one:)). Nothing about midterms. There is a required S/U for 1000/2000 courses at mid-semester, but there is nothing that says an exam is required for that. This “real thing” nonsense is exactly what I had to deal with. Students who took local urban legends as facts. And if you want to assert that it was a “real thing” before they switched to semester system, then I pre-request “Cite?” from the faculty handbook at the time. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2014, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midterm-week-at-college-huh/688062/26 "2014-05-11T19:00:56Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Here is the [PDF](http://www.facultygovernance.gatech.edu/FacultyHandbook_January_2013.pdf) of the GIT faculty handbook. Midterm exams are _not mentioned anywhere in it_. There is some picky crap about Finals (which are required except when the prof decides the course doesn’t need one:)). Nothing about midterms. There is a required S/U for 1000/2000 courses at mid-semester, but there is nothing that says an exam is required for that. > > This “real thing” nonsense is exactly what I had to deal with. Students who took local urban legends as facts. > > And if you want to assert that it was a “real thing” before they switched to semester system, then I pre-request “Cite?” from the faculty handbook at the time. If students acted like it was a real thing and professors acted like it was a real thing (and I assure you both of these things happened while I was at Tech), then it was a _real_ thing. What the handbook says doesn’t matter to me. Anyone who graduated from that venerable institution knows it is notorious for telling their student body one thing but actually _doing_ otherwise. They don’t call it “getting the shaft” for nothing. ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midterm-week-at-college-huh/688062/27 "2014-05-12T01:45:47Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > If students acted like it was a real thing and professors acted like it was a real thing (and I assure you both of these things happened while I was at Tech), then it was a _real_ thing. What the handbook says doesn’t matter to me. > > Anyone who graduated from that venerable institution knows it is notorious for telling their student body one thing but actually _doing_ otherwise. They don’t call it “getting the shaft” for nothing. Thank You. I even said in my first post that it was unofficial, so no shit it’s not in the faculty handbook. Just because it wasn’t in the faculty handbook doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midterm-week-at-college-huh/688062/28 "2014-05-12T03:40:01Z")
Add me to the list of past students who always had a midterm week, in both Texas and Hawaii literally decades ago. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midterm-week-at-college-huh/688062/29 "2014-05-12T15:40:15Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > If students acted like it was a real thing and professors acted like it was a real thing (and I assure you both of these things happened while I was at Tech), then it was a _real_ thing. What the handbook says doesn’t matter to me. But what about in practice? The prof in the syllabus says no midterm, or a late midterm, or two exams instead of a midterm. Do you: Whine and pout and stomp your foot because the prof is obviously doesn’t understand that it’s a “real thing”, or Get on with your life? The prof is in the right, guess which one is the best strategy? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midterm-week-at-college-huh/688062/30 "2014-05-12T15:48:05Z")
> [@Calatin](#): > > Midterm week was a “thing” at my university. Usually held around the end of October and then right before Spring Break. > [@Lanzy](#): > > Every college I’ve been to had mid-term week. I thought it was universal. > [@partypooper](#): > > I’m on the east coast and have always had midterm week. Not all teachers have midterm exams at that point, but that’s when midterm grades went out. So if you were failing a course you got notification around that time. > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Add me to the list of past students who always had a midterm week, in both Texas and Hawaii literally decades ago. I think the OP’s question is not simply about a “midterm week” but about mandatory midterm exams during that week. Telling us that your college had a midterm week is only useful if you tell us what that actually involved. (Like **partypooper** did.) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midterm-week-at-college-huh/688062/31 "2014-05-12T15:52:11Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I think the OP’s question is not simply about a “midterm week” but about mandatory midterm exams during that week. Telling us that your college had a midterm week is only useful if you tell us what that actually involved. (Like **partypooper** did.) It involved … midterm exams. ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midterm-week-at-college-huh/688062/32 "2014-05-12T17:13:34Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > It involved … midterm exams. Whoa, total shocker out of left field there! Give us some warning next time! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midterm-week-at-college-huh/688062/33 "2014-05-12T17:18:12Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > But what about in practice? The prof in the syllabus says no midterm, or a late midterm, or two exams instead of a midterm. Do you: > > Whine and pout and stomp your foot because the prof is obviously doesn’t understand that it’s a “real thing”, > > or > > Get on with your life? > > The prof is in the right, guess which one is the best strategy? I have no idea what the hell you’re going on about. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midterm-week-at-college-huh/688062/34 "2014-05-15T22:02:40Z")
FWIW I think it’s more universal (to bend the semantics a bit) at colleges using the ten-week quarter system. If your term is only ten weeks of instruction then the midterm exam has to be sometime late in Week 5 or early Week 6. On the other hand, in my experience, even in the quarter system many professors prefer to administer two or three “ordinary” exams each covering just the most recent few weeks of class material, rather than an official midterm. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/midterm-week-at-college-huh/688062.md?page=1)