I don't know why schools give students finals. It isn't fair that we have to take a test that covers everything from the beginning of the year through half way through the year. It is nearly impossible to remember every single topic, so students stress out and have to study a ton. It is pretty much like teaching a whole semester in just one week, and for most students this is really overwhelming. Not only do we have to worry about one class, but we have to worry about every single one. On top of a week packed with finals, teachers always throw in that five page research paper, that chemistry test, and that “Quest”. We are only left with the extended class periods to study for the finals, and that is just not enough time! What is the point of doing this? What are we going to gain out of this? I say that we gain nothing, and that teachers should consider taking finals out of our lives.
Taking Finals out of our lives would benefit the student in many ways. First, we would actually look forward to school in the last couple of weeks of the semester. This means that we can just have a regular schedule and be stress free. We would also not risk that grade that we worked so hard for over the course of the year during just one test.
I'm sure that teachers can find a better way to end the year. Instead of a hectic week, why not make it a fun week. We can have projects like the end of the year. Students get a lot more exited about this type of stuff because it is hands on. Or we could have finals, but just be reasonable on the assignments the week before. We could also have them spread out in a better way. Instead of having two a day, why not have one per day, and just have the entire week before be dedicated to just studying.
I agree, finals are horrible. Students have to know the whole semester's worth of material, which is an extensive amount. Teachers tend to place more emphasis on some topics, and if the students doesn't understand the topic of importance, their grade is screwed.
ReplyDeleteYea and on top of that, some students may have learning disabilities such as ADD or ADHD that can cause test anxiety. It is difficult to do everything correctly in the amount of time that teachers give students, because something isn't rite. This is what I feel, and I have noticed in the past that I work a lot better when I don't have to worry about the time. Something about there not being a limit to the amount of time we get, just makes everything pop to my head a lot easier and faster, and I do everything to my fullest potential.
ReplyDeleteTrue having ADD or ADHD would be very difficult to deal with when taking a test, but students with those disabilities or any disablilities are almost always given extra time to work with, so that despite their disabilities, they can answer the questions that they normally would not have been able to if they had been forced to take the test in the normal amount of time.
ReplyDeleteYes this is true, but even with this extra amount on just a regular unit test i have been cut short of problems that I know I understand, and my grade has suffered because of this. For other students, this may be even worse if they have test anxiety.Test Anxiety is an actual condition, and it isn't one of those things that you can get rid of with studying a ton, like a lot of teachers would speculate. These people can simply not function well when they are under that amount of pressure of a test, so they usually don't do well.
ReplyDeleteWell on a normal unit test, it is not as if your whole grade depends on that one test, as with the finals. Hear me out, if you fail a unit test, your grade may be in the ditches, but with some hard work with extra credit you can revive your grade. On a final, you may not do any more extra credit. That's it. No more. That is your last assessment. That is why there should be extra time given to those who have learning challenges
ReplyDeleteI see that both of you are totally against the idea of finals and I would like to pose a question directly relating to that. If we were to eliminate finals, then most would feel that Menlo was lacking the true assessment that Finals had. So if we were to eliminate finals, then we would have to replace it with something that has the same sort of purpose. Do either of you have any ideas as to what that could be?
ReplyDeleteSomething that Menlo could do is assign a Final paper, not in class, for English, a research paper for history, a fun project that involves applying concepts learned to real life situations for math, a project for chem, and another research paper for foreign language. Pretty much what we do during the Finals at the end of the school year, except that Menlo gives a Math test instead of what I suggested. If we do it then, then why don't we do it first semester as well. I have always noticed that everyone is a lot calmer during the end of the year, and why cant it be that way all the time?
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