Finals season. The worst few weeks of the semester. Stressed students, frustrated teachers, staying up late and that one lingering fear: What if I fail?
As we are quickly approaching the end of the school year, I have realized that finals are a different kind of torture in classes where I already have an A before taking the final exam. It’s simply unnecessary for students with a high grade in the class to have to take a final.
The purpose of final exams are testing a student’s ability to understand the course material, but if they’ve maintained an A for a majority of the semester, it’s evident they know the curriculum pretty thoroughly. Taking a final to prove their understanding is redundant as they have already demonstrated proficiency.
Worse, for those who have maintained a solid A- all semester, taking a final and potentially scoring low on it can bump their grade down to a B, which is simply unfair given that they’ve worked so hard to maintain an A all semester.
Mathematically, finals have far more potential to negatively affect a student’s grade than bump it up because they’re weighted so little. In cases where someone has a B+ in the class, for example, they’d have to score anywhere between a 95% to a 107% on the final to even get their grade to an A-. But if a student has an A- in a class, scoring as high as an 83% on the final can bump their grade down to a B+. In most cases, finals can penalize rather than reward students after months of hard work.
Additionally, making finals optional for students with an A allows them to focus on subjects where they might have a lower grade that they would like to improve. They can study for that class they are in struggling with instead of having to worry about performing well enough in another final just to maintain a hard-earned A. Finals are about making sure students understand the content of the course, but putting the burden of five to seven tests students have to study for decreases their ability to actually understand the content.
It’s not only about schoolwork – making finals optional in some cases allows students to live their life with a lot less stress. Many students play sports, participate in multiple time-consuming extracurricular activities and family time they have to juggle in their already overwhelming schedules. Making finals optional for students with an A lets them spend time on these activities and find a healthier school-life balance.
Finals not only add mentally-draining stress on students, they take away time for students to sleep. It’s not fair to expect every teenager to maintain grades on top of their other overflowing responsibilities, especially during finals season where school’s effect is exaggerated.
Naperville Central offers many resources that aim to reduce stress and increase support for students, so making finals optional for high-performing students only adds to their intent in making our lives more stress-free.
It’s time to reconsider mandatory finals, not only because it’s logical, but to support the wellbeing of students.
