Though tensions and stress were as high as ever, the bustling halls of MUS were noticeably emptier during the week of semester exams due to raging sickness within the student body, with 75 students (almost one-fifth of the Upper School student body) reporting to be ill during exam week.
Indeed, sickness had a large impact on both the ability to prepare and perceived exam performance: in an Upper School-wide student survey containing 136 responses (roughly 34% of all Upper School students), over half of respondents reported that their sickness had a moderate-to-significant impact on both metrics (see infographics below for more detailed information).
The students’ afflictions were serious: an anonymous student wrote, “I felt like I had the flu, [COVID] and a cold altogether. No normal human could have prepared adequately for his exams under such distress.”
Despite some students being forced to miss exams because of their illnesses, some decided to take them anyway despite how they felt. As one student put it, he “believed [he] wasn’t in a position to miss [his] exams.” However, this philosophy may lead to others getting sick as well.
Phillip Stalls, academic dean of the Upper School, advises students on how to choose between staying home and taking assessments at another date or “pushing through” the sickness, worsening your own condition and potentially spreading your illness to others: “I have found that if I am not physically feeling well when I wake up and prepare to come to school, simply going about my normal morning routine and coming into school tends to make most physical discomforts go away. Where you have to be careful is when you are dealing with something with a fever or possibly transmittable to your fellow classmates and teachers. Please remember you have a burden to bear for your fellow classmates as well as for yourself. Before coming into school, make sure you are fever free for at least 24 hours and are no longer contagious.”
In addition to emphasizing personal hygiene, Stalls says, “These things will happen periodically as students at times are going to get sick. The key is trying to make sure that all students have the opportunity to complete their exams in a timely manner with a workable timeline for their completion. MUS has always had this contingency in place and it remains a reliable solution to the issue.”
Poll: Exams Prove Sickening for Student Body
In this unscientific The Owl’s Hoot survey conducted at the conclusion of semester exams, December 2025, 136 students shared their sickness experiences during exam week. Of the 136 students in the survey, 30.88% were juniors, 29.41% were seniors, 25.74% were sophomores and 13.97% were freshmen.
Of the students who replied to the survey, the senior class had the most students showcasing signs of sickness during exam week, with 31 out of 40 respondents indicating that they were sick during exam week.
Of the 75 respondents that indicated “Yes” for showcasing signs of sickness, only 15 students said that they were forced to miss an exam.
Students who indicated that they were sick over exam week were asked to rate the impact of their sickness on their perceived exam performance, on a scale of one to five, with one being denoted as “little impact,” three being denoted as “moderate impact” and five being denoted as “significant impact.” Of the 75 students, only one student indicated that their sickness provided “NO EFFECT.”
Of the 74 respondents, nearly one quarter (24.3%) believed that getting sick had little to moderate impact (2) on their exam performance, with 17.6% believing that their sickness had a significant impact on their exam performance.
Similarly, students who indicated that they were sick over exam week were asked to rank the impact of their sickness on their ability to prepare for exams. Of the 75 students, two students indicated that their sickness provided “NO EFFECT.”
The vast majority of the 73 respondents (68.5%) believed that their sickness had an impact greater than or equal to moderate impact (3 or higher).
