Optional exams cultivate independence

By Johanna Ohm     1/21/10 6:00pm

Exam week can be wonderful. There are no regularly scheduled classes, no mandatory homework assignments, breakfast opens early and everyone is gearing up for vacation with holiday parties and winter festivities.But the horrors of exam week often outweigh many of the positives. All your friends are shackled to their laptops and textbooks, you have more papers than you want to write, there are more tests than are possible to study for and you find your sleep and meals sacrificed for the looming pressures that abound in that final week of class.

Quite the dichotomy, wouldn't you say?

For those who enjoy the rigors, study breaks or independence that exam week brings, kudos. But for many, exam week brings unnecessary levels of stress that can increase susceptibility to illness and lead to poor sleeping habits and exhaustion, conditions not at all conducive to performing well on finals.

---

---

Granted, classes are usually set up so the majority of grades are not completely made or broken by a single final test score, but if someone has worked scrupulously throughout the semester to maintain high grades and strong test scores, should he or she be subjected to a final exam on subject material in which he or she has already proven to be competent?

Many courses are set up so that final grades can be calculated prior to taking a final exam, and students often find the necessary test score to make a particular final grade. Strong students may find that even a failed final will not affect their final grade in a drastic manner and may be more inclined to devote their study time elsewhere, perhaps to classes in which they are struggling. In such cases, students who do not care about the results of a particular final exam are wasting both the time and resources of professors and teaching assistants who are grading a test that has not received 100 percent of a student's focus.

Meanwhile, the student also wastes his or her time on the limited amount of studying put forth, as well as on the time designated to take the test. Such students also take up space in what may already be a crowded testing room and waste exam paper, which can become a wasteful, preventable expenditure.

However, the waste of time and physical resources is only one criterion that supports an optional exam system. Optional exams offer greater student responsibility and independence, characteristics that should be thoroughly integrated in a university setting. Having the choice to take an exam fosters a student body in which individuals are more motivated to perform well throughout the semester, enticed by the reward of not needing an additional grade, while also encouraging students to view final exams as a challenge rather than a burden.

Exams that are not mandatory would be taken by those who wish to see for themselves how well they remember past material, without the pressure of a requirement upon which one's future rests. And for those who know they have performed poorly throughout the semester, the final exam is entirely beneficial, offering a last chance to boost a low average.

If exams are seen as positive grade-boosters for the semester-long slacker or as bonus challenges for the high achiever, much of the pressure and stress brought about by finals week could be removed. Even for the student with mediocre grades, who is neither failing nor acing a course, having the option of taking a final exam allows him or her the freedom to divert attention to selecting courses and accepting the responsibility for the grades, without excuses of having too many tests in one time period or lacking enough time to devote to an exam.

For both student and professor, optional exams bring about tempting results that can greatly improve exam week outlook, decrease campus stress levels and enhance student independence. Wouldn't it be worth a shot?

Johanna Ohm is a Duncan College freshman.

---