Final exams are an unavoidable part of many college students’ semesters. While the debate surrounding their existence may never end, it is objectively true that final exams can do their job well – as long as they are executed correctly.
The effectiveness of a final exam can be judged by how well it measures the knowledge that students have acquired throughout the semester. Professor of Sociology at the University of South Carolina Beaufort, Deborah J. Cohan, offers a different perspective through some nontraditional positives for students that come from finals. Notable among the benefits she mentions is an opportunity to learn time and stress management. Students are forced to handle crunch time in a way that they seldom get the chance to. Even if they do not deal with the high workload how they want, it’s a learning experience for the next semester. Stress management can be related to most industries – which have high-impact periods where the stakes are raised – giving students preparation for life after college.
Due to the subjectivity of this argument, there is readily available evidence to argue against Cohan. Professors Hasan Yusefzadeh, Jamileh Amirzadeh Iranagh, and Bahram Nabilou at the Urmia University of Medical Sciences conducted a study correlating test scores and stress levels. They found that students with high levels of stress had lower scores than their peers. As such, the added stress may prove a learning experience for students in their future work life – while being a direct reason for why they perform worse on their exams.
One reason for such a conundrum may be poorly developed exams rather than exams by nature. Professor of Data Science and Learning Analytics at The University of Queensland, Hassan Khosravi, argues that most arguments against finals are problems that can be solved by better-created tests. Many final exams are ineffective, because they focus solely on memorization, application, and understanding, leaving out evaluation and critical-thinking skills. For example, it is possible to create open-book exams that test students’ abilities to authentically solve problems and apply their knowledge outside the box while covering all the material. Oral exams can be used to test employability factors beyond memorization; however, having some recall-based questions is important. Despite a lot of information being readily accessible online, an industry expert will need to have command of the information they preside over.
The reality is that the most effective final exams will be ones that students dislike for the very reason they are effective: preparing for them requires more time and effort put towards understanding the course content. Professor Emerita of Teaching and Learning at Penn State, Maryellen Weimer, claims that these types of exams encourage continued interaction with the material, resulting in better chances of students retaining it after they finish the class. This is supported by a study that found those taking cumulative exams during the semester had far better outcomes when taking a content exam long after the course was over compared to those who were not taking cumulative exams.
It is impossible to make final exams an enjoyable experience. However, a well-designed assessment is an effective way of measuring how well a student has achieved learning outcomes that preserves academic integrity. Seeing as tests are not leaving anytime soon, it may be best to direct efforts towards making sure students are getting the most out of finals.
