The halfway point of the semester is approaching, and experienced students will likely notice a disturbance in the Force as the dreaded midterm week approaches. For many students, classes try to space out their 2-3 midterms fairly evenly throughout the semester. The regularity helps ensure each test has about the same amount of content and helps students make sure they understand material as it gets increasingly complex.

However, this strategy also tends to result in exams for many classes falling in the same week, causing extra stress as students must figure out how to prepare for each test sufficiently. Different students may experience different levels of compactness: for instance, I have only one test this week, whereas a friend of mine has four of them by Tuesday.

But given the large weight assigned to midterm exams in calculating the final grade — often almost as much as the final itself — it seems like a serious oversight that they aren’t covered by the “three final examinations in 24 hours” policy, which allows students to reschedule finals which are closely packed together.

Many professors are sensitive to students’ scheduling issues and allow rescheduling when someone can’t make the day of a midterm. But students deserve to have confidence in every class that they won’t be forced to study until the wee hours of the morning to ensure they are well-prepared for all of their tests in the coming week.

This isn’t merely a matter of convenience. A study in Social Psychological and Personality Science notes that stress, when perceived as a threat, inhibits students’ performance on tests. However, when the student feels adequately prepared, the stress can actually boost blood flow and improve test outcomes.

Additionally, this study demonstrated that “stress reappraisal” — attempts to have students change their perception of stress from a “threat” to a “challenge” — were associated with higher test scores. Allowing students to exert some control over their schedule could enable them to feel more empowered over their test preparation and thus assist in making that mental transition.

Granted, allowing rescheduling would entail a few logistical and security issues. Professors and students would need to find other times which suit both of them, and professors would either have to design a second version or rely on the honor code to prevent sharing of test details ahead of time. However, both issues are already present for existing makeups due to sickness or other serious conflicts. Also, neither issue is so overwhelming that it should prevent students from having ample opportunity to show off their knowledge confidently.

Although NC State offers a number of resources for students to protect their mental health and guard against the negative impacts of stress, there is always room for improvement. A policy enabling students to spread out their midterm load would further that goal for the substantial number who are affected by intense midterm schedules without much more logistical difficulty. Doing so could improve students’ moods and grades during the most stressful weeks of the semester.