Exam Semi-Hell

It is almost the end of the school year for Carter.  She is about to close out her middle school career and move into the pro-league of upper school, but before she can do that she must complete her final exams.  Now 8^th grade exams need to be taken with a grain of salt because they do not count on your “Permanent Record,” yet in the world of competitive school it does not feel that way.

Middle school exams are really just a practice session for what high school exams will be.  Can you memorize, synthesize, regurgitate, postulate and reiterate a year’s worth of learning?  I think the thought of the exams are worse than the actual exams themselves, but that is easy for a woman who has not taken anything more than an eye exam in the last thirty years to say.

I love the idea of learning something new, but hate the concept of being quizzed on it.  At this point in life I would not make a good traditional student.  I am curious and don’t always want to follow the path of learning an instructor wants to send me down.  I come up with questions and theories that I want to discuss when I think of them, not when the teacher wants to teach them.  I am sure teachers all around me are as glad as I am that I am not in their course.

The idea of my having to take an exam is horrible, but that does not mean I am not interested in Carter doing well on her exams.   I have empathy, but expectations.  All that being said, I have to just assume that Carter is studying the right material, using her time wisely, reading the questions thoroughly and is preparing the best she can.  I have been fairly hands off this school years so she can learn how to handle upper school on her own.

As her Mom my job is to make sure she has nourishing food, a quite house, and sleep.  Somehow I still am feeling the pressure of exams and am ready for it to be over.  It may only be semi-hell for Carter since it is middle school, which means it should only be semi-semi hell for me, but I am really not used to any Hell.  I am ready summer vacation.