I’m once more looking forward to fall term exams. Well, not quite “looking forward to.” Who could eagerly await hours of cram sessions, countless moments of “When did we study this? Was that the time I fell asleep in class? Oh, yeah,” or the hours spent sitting in those uncomfortable little desks in the X. No, I am not breathlessly counting the days until exam time dawns on the Choate community. However, as incomprehensible as this may seem, life is better with fall term exams.

Last year, when the administration decided to test the removal of fall term exams, the guinea pigs, I mean Choaties, were ecstatic. Just as a non-academic Wednesday seems fabulous until you have to trudge through classes on Saturday, no exams in the fall seemed a gift from the gods until winter term rolled in. The administration claimed that the elimination of exams in the fall did not signify an increase in exams on other terms, but logic, and reality, would suggest otherwise. If each yearlong course generally has two exams each year, then a fall free from exams comes at the expense of students taking four, five, even six (the horror!) exams during the winter and spring. Having two or three exams is not too bad (although exams will never be an enjoyable activity), but more than that spells trouble. More implies ten-hour study sessions fueled by unnatural doses of caffeine, not to mention the creation of scenes such as a student sitting on her bed, surrounded by mountains of textbooks and binders, turning her head in frantic circles because the material for all the tests combined is endless. Students who are taking five A.P.s are not to be pitied, as that is self-inflicted torture. As for students taking five exams, they deserve some sympathy. The elimination of fall term exams meant a sharp increase in the number of Choaties over-burdened by exams in the winter and spring terms.

Crazy as this may sound, exams themselves can be a good thing, as long as you don’t have too many of them. Intense exam review can truly help students solidify their knowledge of a subject. Ideas they never grasped before miraculously become clear through hours of study. You can see this principle in action at the library the week before exams: you are sitting in a comfy armchair in the reading room, studying for your English exam, when all of a sudden, you hear a loud “Ohh!” coming from a fellow student. You glance up to see him or her smiling and nodding happily, and, when he or she realizes that everyone is staring, quickly looking back down at their notes. But the smile, though slightly diminished, remains. Also, rather than seeing the knowledge in atomized chunks, as happens when students are studying for smaller tests, the broader picture, the interconnectedness of the material, dawns on unsuspecting students during these times. I personally derive great satisfaction from being able to see all the effort I have put into a course displayed coherently in front of me on a few sheets of paper. Because exams enable students to comprehend their classes on a level they never reached before, and to bask in the glory of their own intelligence, the reinstatement of fall term exams will benefit students.

And so, having fall term exams once more is not as tragic as it may seem. A fall exam period implies fewer exams in other terms and therefore less stress altogether, which is certainly a plus. In addition, there is no better feeling than the one you get when you finish your last exam—when you suddenly realize that you do not have to study anymore, that you can spend your time doing absolutely anything you want, even if that includes running around campus screaming “I’m free!” If break is not preceded by exams, as happened last fall, it is just not the same. As one cannot know happiness without also knowing sadness, having the unpleasant exam experience in the fall will make break all the sweeter by comparison. Consequently, when fall exams are quickly approaching, don’t gripe about exams twenty-four hours a day…maybe just twenty-three.