Seniors: Finals or naw?

Senioritis has hit. With each passing day, seniors find it harder and harder to care about their grades. One possible incentive is exemption from their finals, which they can skip if they have an A- average or above, but this does not always work. “I’ll spend more time dying to get an A than I’ll spend studying for finals,” a student wrote. Others accept that the grade ultimately will not matter to them and therefore they will “probably bomb it anyways.” Other students hate finals so much that the possibility to not take one is enough to combat senioritis, but this “only goes so far.” Some seniors know some benefits of finals like reviewing material or preparing for college, but they feel that they have worked hard for four years and deserve a break. They want to be able to focus on senior activities and enjoying their last year before college.

AP classes do not have to take a final the last week of school, but sometimes teachers still give their students a final around the AP exam. Many students that we interviewed agreed: they thought that students that take an AP should not have to take a final. “AP exams are enough. We are already forced to take the national test,” one student wrote in a survey. Many students see the most obvious rationale behind it: to prepare for the exam, but they feel that they are already studying enough for the AP exam. “The final is a way to make a student’s grade in the class more consistent with their grade on the AP exam,” Mr. Blackman stated. The grade is the AP class and the AP exam should both be good indicators of how well a student understands the material. A final exam helps even this out. Still, students do not like having 2 tests for one class, especially if it interferes with studying for any of the other AP exam studying that they have to do around the same time. But there are others who find that, even without the added stress of the AP exams, finals are going to be tough.

Underclassmen seem to have varying degrees of trepidation when it comes the new finals. 10 out of the 11 surveys submitted feel that the new, whole year finals will be “stressful” and “way too much work.” One student says that they seem “horrible, the schedule looks terrible. I don’t see how I can do a whole year of math and science in one day.” Their concern is legitimate. How teachers plan to study and then apply the information from entire year-length classes is a good question. However another student says that finals may be “Either really hard or easier because they can’t make it too specific.” This would also make sense as the curriculum may be trimmed down to only what is necessary, making for a more worthwhile review and test application. It is possible that this could go either way.

Although most agree that they view finals as something to potentially ruin their grades, three students believe that finals can still be used to improve grades. This is  interesting as they also said they believed finals would be much harder. With finals now making a 12% difference in grades rather than the old 10%, it is even more reason to hope to do well. All of the survey participants unanimously agree that work after finals should not be expected. “It’s pointless,” says one student, and it seems others agree. Especially after the seemingly difficult finals this year, it will be important to not even try to have students complete anything after finals.

Finals usually have been  stressful time for everyone. However, with the new guidelines for finals this might  increase. Some believe that seniors should not even have to take finals at all, as they have AP testing and are leaving so it will not matter. But the general belief is that underclassmen should still have to take finals. They can be used to improve grades, and are still important in their curriculum. Finals are no fun, but before we even know it they will have come and gone and left a trail of good and bad grades in their wake.