Testing is a talent that some lucky people possess. Others can study hard and get good at it. Others will never acquire the skill. It's important to remember that every test and every grade is taken with a grain of salt. The hardest part about the American education system is how the focal point of each child's education is a grade. I understand that there is need to measure the aptitude of students and their progress as they learn in the education system. The problem with the system is it doesn't include encouragement to let students know that's her inability to master every single critical subject does not make them any less of a person or any less talented.

As midterms roll around, I can only hope to remind all the students out there taking their big tests that at the end of the day, a grade is not what defines you. If you have a talent or passion it will show past the bad grade you have in math (because calculus doesn't make sense no matter how many different teachers try to teach it to you). Each student learns differently and works differently based on their experience and their prior skills and knowledge.

Many of you have either reached the end or are in the middle of a series of tests known as "midterms." For upperclassmen, midterms are nothing new, but I can only imagine the joy you feel as you watch the freshman experience their first round of hell, and you can only laugh because that's not even the final. I encourage students to remember that these test grades do not define who they are as people, and I encourage each student to take each experience as a learning experience instead of defeat. This is the horrifying experience of midterms as told by "New Girl."

1. You feel accomplished staying up until 4 a.m. studying, but then you realized you studied the wrong chapter...
2. You try to go to office hours and your teacher is either too busy or cancels them.
3. All you’ve had to eat for the last 12 hours is coffee, and you're just about ready to fall over.
4. Your alarm clock goes off the morning of the test, but you didn’t actually get any sleep.
5. Your friend or roommate tells you to think “positive," but you know it's pretty much all downhill at this point.
6. Your family asks how midterms are going and you just nod and smile hoping they won't say anything more.
7. Your teacher specifically says, “this question will be on the midterm." At least you know you'll get one answer right...
8. You slowly start to die a little on the inside because you have three midterms on the same day.
9. Your professor informs you that the average grade on the test is always a “D," and you look hopelessly around for someone to come and save you.
10. And you really want is a study break but you know you can’t have one.
11. You are constantly having to reread the same paragraph over and over because your brain has given up.
12. Then you begin to question your mental state.
13. You are getting ready to walk into the exam and everyone who hasn't up to class all semester is here.

14. Then you walk out of the test still feeling numb unsure of how you did.

15. But then you remember that all of your midterms are finally done.