Pros:
Before finals, there were already tests at the end of the tri, but finals are a better way of checking students’ knowledge. Students know exactly what to expect. While the tests before were given at the teacher’s leisure, students know for sure that they will have one at the end of the trimester. This also makes it easier for students to prepare for finals, knowing that there’s a set date and time.
Some other pros of finals are that it allows teachers to see how their students learned, and if they understand all the stuff from the trimester. Finals are also a good preparation for when students may have to take bigger tests like these later, like in college. Students will be more prepared for higher education, should they choose to undergo it, where they will have to take harder tests that mean more.
These finals also help get students in the habit of having to study more seriously for important tests, which is an important skill for bigger tests like AP tests and ACT/SATs. These tests are critical to college application most of the time, so if you are better at preparing for big tests you will perform better on SATs and ACTs, which will help a lot with getting into colleges. This can also help students in the future be more hardworking.
Another pro of finals is that it helps students remember everything they have learned in the trimester/year, as many teachers give finals that sum up everything they have learned from the past tri or so. This can help students remember information longer, information like important math formulas that can help them in the future on other tests like the SAT. Also giving finals can help prepare students that are in AP classes to prepare for the AP test. If teachers give a cumulative final that goes over everything from the year, it will help them prepare AP tests in whatever class they are in, considering that the AP tests are very similar to one big final test.
Cons:
Ever since finals have arrived at City High, the stress surrounding having themat the end of the trimester can prove too much for some students. Now, everyone has to study for all their classes at once now since every class has a final, which is already tough. However, this is even harder when you con- sider the other things people have going on in their lives, like sports or music.
For example, James Caster ‘26, directly said, “Finals can be stressful when you also have other stuff like sports going on at the same time, then you have to spend time studying and also practicing for your sport.”
With the pressure of getting grades up, if they were struggling with those, and making up tests/turning in missing work before the tri ends, the end of the trimester has always been a stressful time for students. Now what was already a stressful period of time has been made worse by the fact every class has a final at the end of the trimester, although some students have less finals than others, so this depends on the student.
These tests should be retakeable as well, because finals have the ability to totally plummet someone’s grade. For example, if someone had a lower A in a class, then failed the final, their grades could drop sharply with them left unable to do anything about it. This leads to an increase of test anxiety.
Finals make test anxiety worse than it would already be because they’re so important and aren’t retakeable. This increase of test anxiety is damaging towards students’ mental health and well-being. While there are resources that are set up to help students, like the NESTT, which can be a good resource to help students, it should be encouraged more by teachers and staff. The NESTT isn’t promoted as much as it should be, although that is something that can be easily fixed.
