Speech - Isabel Jenkins

If only final exams were as simple as the movies portray them to be. The scene opens: our study buddy protagonists have a late night review session that consists of more time for girl talk than time in textbooks. Unfortunately, real student life is not a 30-second montage set to pop music. Final exams in particular are a topic we should all be familiar with. You’ve taken final exams, I’ve taken final exams … This speech is a final exam!

But what is it about final exams? Just plain exams have a cruel enough implication, but what comes with the addition of the word “final”? Why do students dread them so much? As a general rule, final exams supposedly test a student’s comprehensive knowledge of a subject. The idea behind finals makes sense: these periodic tests should encourage students to try and retain the material learned over the entire semester. Sadly, what really ends up happening is cramming – something else we should all be familiar with. Countless hours pouring over a course load of information is what typifies exam week. At times it feels like finals don’t test understanding of information – it feels like they test a student’s ability to cram.

I believe our current system for final exams has become incredibly unrealistic, and is not accomplishing its stated goal. Most of us aren’t remembering information long-term. The adverse effects that are evident in students, such as anxiety and stress, clearly do not outweigh the positives.

We’ve been told before “don’t memorize – understand” but the exams we’re given tend to encourage otherwise. Teachers usually only have a short amount of time to grade, so complicated concepts must be condensed into simple multiple-choice questions or a single essay.

In fact, the Dean of Education at University of Albany SUNY states that “These tests ask the kind of questions … in detail that they may never be asked again in their lives.” This isn’t the case for every subject, but in some instances, those who excel at final exams are simply those who have the most skill at memorization and recitation. We have multiple exams to prepare for, and very limited time. Short-term memorization seems to be to only way out, especially considering the weight final exams carry.

Which leads me to my next point: final exams should not be worth so much. I mean, 20% of our grade? Say I have a 95% in my physics class. Respectable, right? Say our final is going to have about 50 questions. Maybe I’m having a horrendous day, and I miss 15 whole problems. Incredibly realistic, horrendous day or not, because, physics. Well, guess what: that’s a 70%. Even if my teacher is being kind and curves it a few points, my admirable 95% has just dropped a whole letter grade. A whole semester of hard work gone, because of one test.

On the other hand, say I have a 90% in AP Calculus. I really want an A, since, that’s what is expected. I just need to raise my grade two measly points. Shouldn’t be hard, right? Wrong. According to finalexamcalculator.com, with a 20% weighted final, in order to raise my grade those two miniscule points, I have to get a 100%. On my Calculus final. Even the best students in class are prone to make mistakes – and with math, it’s all too easy to have a slight misstep. A perfect score? Yeah … that’s happening.

In summary, it’s so easy to drop due to a final, but so hard to gain back points. It’s a system literally working against you. Even if you already have great grades, if you score lower on your final, your grade will go down.

Clearly, these exams are a heavy burden on students. Add in pressure from parents and the school to perform, and you have the perfect formula for stress and anxiety. Many would argue that stress is necessary for success, but that is only partially true. A study in 1908 produced the Yerkes-Dodson law, which states that when stress is too high or too low, performance falls. There is nothing against a little friendly competition, but the anxiety levels some students experience are on a different level. There are two completely different ends of the spectrum – students who care too much, and students who don’t care enough. The “try-hards” don’t eat, don’t sleep, just study. The others become so apathetic they don’t even attempt to make an effort. Both schools of thought are equally at fault, and both produce bad habits. Studies have shown that test anxiety not only tends to cause poor performance on exams, but also impacts mental health and self-esteem. Contrary to popular belief, reductions in stress actually cause improved performance and GPA.

In conclusion, our system of final exams has become increasingly impractical, and needs revision. These tests claim to promote learning, but they most certainly don’t – they promote unconstructive habits in students such as cramming, and elicit unnecessary amounts of stress. They need to be replaced with different forms of examination, such as comprehensive projects or more frequent but small assessments. Many colleges, even prestigious ones such as Harvard, are beginning to cut down final exams. Why shouldn’t we? It would not only benefit students, but teachers as well – they wouldn’t be hammered at the end of each semester with hundreds of papers to grade. Even if exams must continue to exist in high school, they shouldn’t be weighted as heavily.

Let’s face it – student life will never look like the movies … but we deserve a change.

Bibliography:

Race to Nowhere. Dir. Vicki Abeles and Jessica Congdon. Reel Link Films, 2009. Documentary.

“Final Exams Are Quietly Vanishing From College.” Teaching Community. Web. < http://teaching.monster.com/news/articles/10030-final-exams-are-quietly-vanishing-from-college>

Buchwald, Petra. “Test Anxiety And Performance In The Framework Of The Conservation Of Resources Theory.” Cognition, Brain, Behavior: An Interdisciplinary Journal 14.4 (2010): 283-293. PsycINFO. Print.

Florman, Rachel. “Professor Warns of Negative Effects of Finals-related Stress.” Purdue Exponent. The Exponent Online, 24 Apr. 2012. Web. <http://www.purdueexponent.org/campus/article_3d1dc30f-39d3-56a3-9a92-a1900945f224.html>

“Test Anxiety Is Real, Crippling, and Treatable.” Vault: Career Intelligence, 06 Jan. 2011. Interview. <http://www.vault.com/blog/interviewing/test-anxiety-is-real-crippling-and-treatable-an-interview-with-bara-sapir>