By SEAMUS KELLEHER ’11
Final exams aren’t just old school; they’re bad school. A fine academic institution like Ignatius needs to recognize how flawed the practice of final exams is and do away with them. Exams are meant to assess a student’s knowledge of course materials but are an inaccurate and unfair judgment of a student’s academic progress. They should be ousted. Many high schools and universities, including Harvard University, have driven final exams to extinction. They recognize that asking a student to review months of notes and recall countless specifics does not result in an increased understanding of the material, and so should our administration.
What’s more important, learning minute details or understanding important concepts? Final exams call for students to cram rather than review. In my experience, teachers go back to old tests and quizzes and simply copy and paste sections from them. If a teacher can’t even take the time to create a comprehensive, fair exam, then how can we be asked to spend hours studying for them? Expecting students to be able, in a matter of days, to review months of material and call up countless specifics (dates, equations, facts, etc.) is simply unrealistic. Factor in the enormous mental strain they put on an individual, the times of year exams take place, and the set-up of exam days, and you end up with a waste of an hour and thirty minutes.
20% of a grade is far too much weight to place on a single exam. A students’ grade should be a product of a student’s effort and performance in the class over a period of months, as determined by numerous homework assignments, quizzes, projects, and tests. It should be a grade that is earned by a student. How can 20% of a grade that has been earned over months of work ride on 90 minutes of a student’s time on one January or June morning? A student’s hard work for an entire semester can be instantly offset by a poor performance on a final exam. Some students simply aren’t good test takers. Is it fair to punish a student that’s worked diligently for months because he didn’t perform well in a stressful 90 period?
Taking one exam, given all the adversity already outlined above, is difficult. Taking numerous exams, one after another, in the same day is so taxing on one’s mind. By the second exam period, a student is exhausted. Expecting a teenager to perform well, calling up months worth of facts, equations, dates, etc., on multiple exams in the same day is simply unrealistic. We’re human and we can only memorize so many details. Comprehending concepts and main ideas are far more important and should be rewarded.
Final exams should be done away with. If not, they should definitely carry much less influence on a student’s grade. Another idea is that students with a B average or better in a class should be exempt from taking that class’s final exam. It’s time to make a change.
