When I was researching for an article a few weeks ago, I came across an article that claimed that students who make straight As should not have to take final exams. The articles that I found mostly talked about cumulative finals, the point of which are to assess a student’s level of understanding of the concepts covered in class throughout the year. Throughout the year, however, a student’s progress is constantly being gauged through the use of unit tests, benchmarks, papers, and projects. Therefore, taking a cumulative final exam doesn’t really tell the professor anything that they could not already gauge about a particular student’s abilities. If someone has had an A for the entire year, have they not already proven that they have a deep understanding of the material?
In addition to this, some sources claimed that final exams are unfair because some people do not perform well on tests despite being intelligent, hard workers. These exams, then, will put a student in a high-pressure environment which may not accurately portray their abilities.
I am very back and forth on this topic. I am a straight A student myself, and cumulative finals always stresses me out because I feel I do not have time to cover all of the material for all of my classes. These are concepts I have learned and proven my understanding of before. Additionally, many students simply cram before the final exam to do well on the test and then forget all of the information afterward (I have NEVER done this of course…). However, I understand the need to reiterate material from the start of the semester, as most classes build upon basic concepts covered at the beginning of the semester. This of course, does not relate to non-cumulative finals, or finals that are simply a test regarding the most recently learned concepts. These concepts obviously need to be tested in some way, whether that be an exam, a project, or a paper assignment.
Cumulative finals allow students to cover all of the material they have learned in class and connect concepts from the start of the semester to concepts from the end of the semester. This cross-semester analysis allows students to have a better understanding of the class and the discipline they are studying. Finals also allow an opportunity for students who have struggled throughout the year to relearn basic concepts and better their grade. However, cumulative finals can very stressful overall, and especially for students who do not do well in testing but excel in other areas such as oral presentations, group projects, or papers.
Overall, finals are a stressful time of the year for everyone. Perhaps it is time for a reevaluation of our traditional methods of testing.
