As the time for semester finals approaches, many students feel overwhelmed by the perceived enormity of the occasion. Freshmen and seniors alike take to burning the midnight oil, missing out on sleep to cram the precious bits of knowledge into their minds. For most, no expenses are spared in the preparation for these exams. Also for most, the much anticipated effect of the exam scores fails to deliver on its promise. In the current system, final exams carry far less weight than they are often made out to.
In advanced courses, AP or Dual Credit, summatives make up 70% of the total grade, while formatives make up 30%. In On-Level courses, summatives make up 60% and formatives make up 40%. Semester finals are factored in after the fact and constitute 10% of the semester average. While 10% of the entire semester may sound major initially, the mathematics prove the lack of massive impact.
Take for example a student with a 96 average. The student is desperate to maintain an A in the class, and lies awake at night dreading an imperfect final grade that could knock the average below a 90. Realistically, this student has very little to fear. In order to drop below a 90 in the course, the student would have to score lower than a 36 on their final exam.
Even more telling, if a student has an 88 average it would take a final score of less than an 8 to fall into the C range.
Positive effects of final scores are equally minimal. In order for the 88 student to reach an A, they would require a score of 108, impossible in most courses.
Not only are final scores minor in the big picture, in many cases they are even less impactful than a standard summative. Courses are required to record a minimum of three summative grades each nine weeks, six a semester. Given the allotment of the total grade that summatives make up, each summative is worth 10% of the semester average in an on-level course, and approximately 12% of the semester average in an advanced course. These statistics grant perspective on the relative importance of finals; Often times, a standard summative carries greater weight.
Although finals remain an important indicator of learning, the current weighting system all but negates their influence on course averages. Any test is worth preparing for, but there is truly little reason to lose sleep and peace of mind worrying over final exams.
