By Alexandra Codella ’17 and Mia Oyama ’17

The district’s change to finals has sparked a debate over how to best evaluate student academic performance. Hear both sides’ benefits.

Old School: Exams

Even though having projects as finals sounds ideal, there are many downfalls that come with end of the year projects. Not studying may seem like a relief but having to complete multiple projects all at once will become overbearing. It takes both time and hard work to thoroughly complete each project. The anxiety of having six projects all due in the matter of one stressful week is becoming overwhelming.

COLLEGE READY: Last year’s final exam schedule and traditional testing helped students prepare for college finals and other types standardized testing. By taking away final exams, students lose the advantage of extra preparation for standardized testing such as the SATs, ACTs and APs. Most colleges end their school year with exams, not projects. By allowing high school students to take final exams,they will have better training for what college finals are like so they are not caught off guard.

LESS TIME-CONSUMING: Having final exams will lessen teachers’ worries about whether or not students will take the projects seriously. Among final exams in the past, after students took their test, they were able to go home early. I enjoyed this because it allowed me to have a head start on studying for the next exams and go to bed at a reasonable hour, so I was well rested for the next test day. This relieved a lot of stress for the week of testing.

SHOWS LEVEL OF UNDERSTANDING: People would argue that final projects do not test your knowledge as well as a final exam does for certain subjects. In particular, many people are concerned with the idea of projects for math classes. The best way to test a student’s knowledge on math lessons is by giving them on exam with multiple different problems.

New School: Projects

End of the year cramming and studying is no longer a worry in students’ June schedules. The administration’s choice to switch end of the year finals to projects is beneficial for students all around. As summer approaches, students lose focus and the weather makes it harder to study. Final projects give students the opportunity to work on projects from May through June that are worth 10 percent of their grade with limited distractions affecting their grade.

MORE TIME: The projects are spread out with a good amount of time given to complete them. The decision to split up subjects and have certain due dates for each course allows students to ease into the process. It keeps students from becoming too overwhelmed. This is a better way to end the school year because students are less stressed and it gives them a better opportunity to keep their grades up.

GRADE BOOSTER: Students who are not good tests takers are able to given the opportunity to end the year with a project that will have a positive effect on their overall grade. I am pleased that the idea of final projects was finally enforced because it allows me to work overtime on a project that will help keep my grades up. Being a bad test taker, exams have always had a damaging impact on my final grade and now finals will be less of a worry.

NOT A MEMORIZATION TEST: Exams require a lot of memorization, whereas, projects allow students to continue to learn as they review material they have learned throughout the course of the year.

STRESS-FREE: Projects allow students to end the year with ease. Opportunities to work in class and spread out due dates prevent stress and allow students to enjoy the end of the school year.