Every time a math teacher assigns a DeltaMath assignment, the next day,  students peek into class, before entering, to try and scope out that tiny, powerful piece of paper. Deltamath quizzes have been long hated by the students of Millennium High School, but why?

Although the DeltaMath quizzes are worth 10% of your grade, if your grade is struggling in other components of the grade breakdown, like participation, assignments, assessments, and resource notebooks, this DeltaMath quiz can weigh a lot and can affect your grade positively or negatively. Due to this, many students deem DeltaMath quizzes unfair. 

In our sophomore year (2022), DeltaMath quizzes were out of two points. If you messed up because you were running out of time, there was a very high chance you could or would end up with a 1/2 or 0/2. If you are doing well in all the other components that make up your math grade, a 1/2 or 0/2 brings your grade down by at least 1-3%. However, if your average for DeltaMath quizzes is a 1/2 or 0/2, getting another 1/2 or 0/2 may not affect your grade so much. Getting a 2/2 on a DeltaMath quiz, while averaging 1/2 or 0/2’s, can boost your grade up by 1-2%. This is very similar to our DeltaMath quizzes this year. This year, our junior year, DeltaMath quizzes are out of three. Junior year is very important so many students end up fearing that one small mistake will deduct their score to 2/3 or maybe 1/3. This has made, what we believe, most students more prone to making mistakes. The effect these DeltaMath quizzes have on our overall grade is very similar to when the scores were out of two; this year though, making one mistake would still drag our grade down, but not by as much as last year because a 2/3 is a 66% whereas a 1/2 is a 50%.

We asked a few Millennium students about their experiences and thoughts on the DeltaMath quizzes. Mandy, a junior, says, “I think at this point everyone knows it comes one or two days after the DeltaMath [homework]  is due so it’s not really a surprise”. Lina, another junior, says “I think dm (DeltaMath) quizzes are a little annoying because if you make a single mistake on them, you literally would get a  1/3 or 2/3 and that’s a huge deal. It impacts your grade by a lot”. In addition, Eva, a junior, says “They [DeltaMath quizzes] sometimes boost your grade, but is it really worth the boost? Because you can lose more [than you gain]”.