Thought on the New Final Exam Policy

The phrase “final exams are approaching” used to be enough to evoke fear within any high school student’s mind, including mine. Regardless of if you were a freshman or senior, straight-a’s or failing, you would be worried about final exams. After all, it used to make up 20% of a student’s overall grade. This is no longer the case at our school. 

Now, our teachers have the option on whether or not they would like to administer final exams, and can alter how much they will affect each of our overall grades. When asked to comment on the matter, Dr. Lietz stated, “I believe one pro is that it doesn’t make just one test such a large portion of your grade.  Another pro is that a student’s grade is based on their performance on all summative tests equally instead of placing just a large emphasis on the final. I do not think there are any cons to this.” Many teachers agree with this, and believe that this system does accurately display student progress. Mr. Habas, my physics teacher, agrees, stating “At the moment, I see the benefits of the new final exam policy. Teachers have the flexibility to give a traditional final exam, a unit test, a project, etc – whichever is best for students to demonstrate their mastery of the learning targets.” I personally believe that finals are an important measure of student progress, and as a student myself, I am very grateful for this new policy change. Adjusting to being in school physically after e-learning has been a struggle for me, and even keeping my grades up has been difficult. It is relaxing to not feel so much pressure to do well on one test that, in old times, could have dropped my grade by staggering amounts. Fellow student Adam Trojak agrees, stating, “I like how a lot of teachers this year are making the final exam just a test instead of 20% of our grade.” I feel that this new system not only makes more sense as a measure of progress, but it also displays a sense of empathy towards students who still are adjusting to in-person learning or even freshman or sophomores who have never taken a final before in their lives.

Mr. DiFilippo, my history teacher, also sees benefits in reducing the weight of final exams, but like many others, feels that the process of having final exams in general is still very important. “As for counting 20%, I have always felt that was an excessive amount of weight for a high school student, who might not understand the ramifications. I think we need to be cognizant that ending the finals process could possibly be detrimental to the student’s preparation for final assessments at the next level.” My computer science teacher Mr. Hennelly agrees with this point, and further stresses the importance of final exams in order to prepare for college. Hennelly explains, “In order to better prepare for college, 20% is closer to a college level test.  For example math classes in college have 2-3 tests and the final could be 50% of your grade. The math department meets with Moraine Valley and we compare notes.” These are valid arguments, and I also agree with them. As someone who is planning on going to college, I can understand the importance of prepping for the expectations that will be placed on me and my fellow students in the future. However, in my opinion, it is also incredibly important to adjust to the current times. As I mentioned earlier, freshmen and sophomores have never taken finals before, and to place the weight on them that would be placed on them in college does not make any sense. It would lead to lower scores and unnecessary stress. Not to mention, our generation’s mental health has been declining since the pandemic began, and the stress of placing college expectations on us would presumably further detriment this. This is why I, and many other students, are undeniably content with this adjustment in regards to the weight of final exams. As of now, according to Dr. Lietz, this new policy will be unchanged for many years to come, and we are grateful for that.