It’s that time of the semester again where all your deadlines seem to be crashing down on you, the number of assignments you have seem to keep growing and you feel like you want to pull your hair out. That time is also known as finals week, oh the most stressful time of the year (please hum to the tune of It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, or you won’t get the full effect). Ever since I can remember finals week has been the bane of my existence with the abundance of material you’re forced to relearn just to regurgitate it on a paper for two hours and then forget it in the next. Rather than feeling accomplished over how my semester went, my anxiety levels reach an all-time high, so I ask the question, what’s the point of finals, anyways?
Most teachers or education administration would say final exams are meant to showcase what has been taught over the semester, but I think it’s essential to also look at it from our point of view. In a matter of two weeks, we are expected to recall four months of material for five or more classes so that we can take one two hour test that weighs more than the multitude of other assignments we did that semester. For kids with testing anxiety, there is nothing more stressful and nerve-wracking than studying and prepping for hours just for the information to leave your brain the minute you open your exam. At that moment, you just imagine your grade dropping and GPA falling with nothing for you to do to save it.
Another grievance I have against exams are the teachers that put in the material that they glanced over when teaching the original lesson. Then students are hit with that feeling, you all know the feeling I’m talking about, that “when did we learn this”, “I’m totally going to fail”, “this can’t be real” feeling. Those are the teachers that take pleasure in their low class average and excuse it by saying it’s our job to apply the skills they have taught but fail to recognize that without a good foundation, we are bound to fail.
It’s also important that I point out that this does not apply to all teachers and every exam. I have had teachers that have created finals that accurately reflect on the class, and for that, I am thankful, but sadly enough, there aren’t more of them. I understand the need to review and sustain the material that is taught in class, but what I don’t get is how a 40 question multiple choice and a five short essay exam is worth 25 percent of my grade while the 30 other assignments are worth five.
A girl can dream that teachers, under these new circumstances, try and recognize the fact that we are at home attempting to prep for finals in conditions that make the process ten times as stressful. I also hope in the future some of these teachers try and put themselves in our shoes and understand the unfair nature of their assessments before it’s too late.
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