Final thoughts about finals
May 10, 2018
By HANNAH SIEGEL
The Mirror reporter
The end of the school year is upon us at Stevens Point Area Senior High (SPASH) and that means finals too, but are they really worth all this time and stress? In my opinion, no, they are a series of unnecessary tests that make you want to rip your hair out.
Here at SPASH students are required to take these finals in most classes. The type of test varies depending on the class but in all classes, they make up 10 to 20 percent of your grade. However, in many cases, they have little impact on the student’s grade.
With little impact, you wouldn’t think you’d stress about it, that it’s no big deal. This, however, is not true. When it comes to finals, students stress a lot and they start studying weeks in advanced, staying up for hours just to try and earn a decent grade. I admit I am one of these students and I think it’s ridiculous.
They say finals help students prepare for college and test our knowledge of what we learned collectively over the semester, but don’t tests do that. For example, in my Advanced Algebra 2 class, I have weekly tests. We take these tests to examine our knowledge, so why do we need another big test that doesn’t really do anything but stress us out? Personally, I feel finals should be cut, they just cause much anxiety when I have enough to deal with in my life and at school.
When it comes to finals the type of test is always different. A great example of this is the math final. They’re usually 100 point tests where you sit in a silent room. This is way different from most art finals; here they are usually a final project you get the week to work on. The environment is very different, especially because you aren’t stressing out, have a long period of time to do it, and don’t have to be silent. I like this, it gives students a break from sitting in a quiet room and lets teachers “test” students a way they like. Another example of this would be band, we don’t even have a final, we have a final concert. So on the day of finals, we have a period to relax and study for other classes.
I think finals are unnecessary and without them, students would be better off. However, I know that won’t happen so I think teachers should be able to choose if they want to do them or not. Not everybody likes them and I feel if less pressure was put on students, they would succeed and stress would be taken off teachers and students.
Justice Chukwuemeka • Oct 22, 2018 at 10:56 AM
Great article. Even if all the finals were to be removed, I would prefer they keep the Science finals if they are labs. I love designing and doing labs. I think they are fun and not stressful at all.
Manuel Lupercio • May 11, 2018 at 12:57 PM
I agree 100% ive always felt finals as pointless and very stressful. This year i thought my last weeks at spash would be stress-free and enjoyable but yet here I am stressing about finals that teachers so gracefully planned ahead of time for the seniors leaving early.
Alina Burmistrova • May 11, 2018 at 12:52 PM
There is so much information about finals I have read in this article. I am newbie at this school therefore it is so informative for me. I like your opinion and I completely agree with it. You can reason very well, I noticed.
Kacey Koch • May 11, 2018 at 12:52 PM
I agree! I’ve never been a good test taker so finals aren’t very fun for me. This was a good article to read.
Kara • May 11, 2018 at 12:36 PM
I agree with you, Hannah! Final exams are just a memorization game, I would much rather have projects that you get a week to work on or a portfolio.
Dylan Trigg • May 11, 2018 at 12:32 PM
I don’t like finals at all. I think that there would be a better way to end the year without having to take the last two days to take tests. They are too stressful.
Alyssa Schroeckenthaler • May 11, 2018 at 12:26 PM
I agree! I try to not worry about finals too much because they aren’t worth a lot of our grades. It’s either you can fail to get an A in the class, or you need 126% to get an A which is impossible. The part where you said finals are said to prepare us for college, I disagree with that, because some classes make their finals based on just one unit, not cumulative.
Hannah Gibbons • May 11, 2018 at 12:25 PM
I totally agree with you. Although finals may only be 10% of the grade, I still stress over them like crazy. Students have enough to worry about, especially at the end of the year. We don’t need more added onto our plate. It would’ve been nice to include some quotes from students and teachers to see what their outlook on finals were.
Tony Ludwig • May 11, 2018 at 12:22 PM
Finland, the #1 country in education, has mostly done away with standardized tests like this. I think it would be really helpful if we adopted some of their practices.
Dylan Konicek • May 11, 2018 at 12:18 PM
In my opinion, if the finals aren’t worth that much why are students stressing over them so much. Other than that you really seemed to get your point across. I would have liked to see some other students’ opinion on finals as well.
Will Carroll • May 11, 2018 at 12:17 PM
I agree, finals are an ineffective measurement of what a student has learned. This is really well written, good job!