The end of the semester is coming and everyone knows what that means, finals. Finals are the end of semester exams that are supposed to go over everything you have learned that semester, even though they may not hit every point from January to May

I have personally heard and experienced stories of teachers teaching one thing all semester, and then for the finals giving a simple multiple choice quiz. This is unnecessary, and finals should be removed from the school system completely. Our school dedicates two days to finals alone which means its either two really unnecessary days, or two really important ones. With how much teachers stress finals and tests, they should either weigh on your grade heavily, or not at all. In certain classes, the grade could pass or fail you, but in others, you could fail the test

On one side of the argument, your grade does and will affect your grade in certain classes, and it should. On the other side, the impact could be unfair to some students.

A student could have put in a bunch of work compared to astudent who could have skipped all semester and then somehow aces the final and ends with the same grade as the student who worked their tail off.

Finals are the tests that are supposed to make or break your grade. I have only been at this school for not even one year yet, and I can already see the flaws. For instance, the test either conmpletly messes with your grade, or do not do enough.

Some of the counter sides to this argument could be the fact that it may not prepare you for college exams. In college, it is common for students to take tests often, so that is why high school gives these tests. The college tests are important to your grade just like every other thing else. This is also related to high school tests.

To make it into a good college, your ACT score has to be good or at least what the college will accept. These finals are little milestones to help us get the scores we need to succeed in college. The ACT is another test that is a little confusing. The test is testing how well you can answer questions in a timed surounding. Some and most students do not do well under a timed enviorment, it puts stress and anxiety. Most students take tests better when they have time to focus and pay atention.

There are all these issues, but I have the solution. I do not believe that they should be fully taken out of the school system, just controlled. It is a simple fix, by controling the test in a more practical way, the school system can move everything around to make more sense.

If you are not passing your class, you should be obligated to take a final in that class. If you are passing the class then you should be able to be exempt from the finals. It is unfair to the students who do work all semester to have their last two days be spent on tests and stress.

Students that are passing their classes at a high enough standard should not be forced to subject themselves to two more days of intense stress. Finals can cause grades to drop dramatically, and that can drastically effect the outcome for students that already have high grades.

Students that are not passing their classes in the first place should be able to use finals as sort of a redemption. If students are able to pass their finals, which should theoretically be a culmination of all the things they have learned a semester, then they should be able to pass their class.

There are so many factors that weigh into  a students’ end of semester grade, and finals should only be a factor for those that need it. Having students with a good grade take the finals seems almost like a punishment for all their hardwork this semester.

Of course the easiest solution would be to implement this solution school wide, but it is understandable as to why that would not work right away. It can be a slow process, but nevertheless it needs to be a process.

It is the students final two days of school, let them relax and have fun. The students deserve a break from the stress and chaos of the school year. When the school year comes to a close, most students have checked out mentally from school. Most students are thinking about how their summers are going to go.

Making this small change could not only help students’ grades, but also help the teachers as they will not have as much work to grade. It is simply unfair for students to let their whole semester grade ride on one test, as they have put in way more effort all semester.

The students work for around 10 months out of the school year to finish it out with tests and stress. This whole system is not  broken, just a little out of control. With these simple little changes the final testing system can be great, more impactful, and an overall better way of doing things.