By Nick Cook | Web Editor
As the semester comes to a close, there is one week every student dreads — finals week. We all learn to dread this week because these exams don’t test our knowledge, they just test how well we can memorize information. Memorization of minute facts is not particularly useful in the real world, unless you go to your local bar’s trivia night. There are other options available for professors to use that will more effectively determine how a student retains knowledge.
Some studies have shown there’s no significant difference between cumulative and non-cumulative exams, and I believe there are better options for testing how well a student is able to retain knowledge. Testing can add stress and anxiety to a student’s already overwhelming schedule. While long papers and projects can do the same, they can still be done over time and in ways that reduce stress.
In my computer ethics class last semester, there was no final, just 4 papers spaced through the semester. Even though it made it slightly more stressful that these 4 papers would determine my entire grade, they were graded based on the improvements made throughout the semester. It made it easier to know that even if the essay itself wasn’t great, if I could make improvements and show that I was learning, I would still get a good grade. I found this more useful than exams because I knew what I could improve on and do better on the next exam, instead of trying to memorize court cases and ethical dilemmas.
There’s no perfect replacement for a final exam or way to determine how much knowledge a student gains during the year. Papers and projects are a good alternative to exams. They allow professors to really emphasize certain aspects of the course and give as much credit as possible for retaining some information, but not being able to test well on it.
In my experience, I’ve been able to score better on projects and papers than final exams because I get hands-on experience with the material. I am also able to explain my reasoning behind answers and get partial credit where I mostly explain things right. Papers and projects allow for more partial credit than exams do and can more accurately reflect a student’s ability to learn and retain information.
Every student learns differently and is going to be able to express their knowledge in different ways, so having one standard way to test a student’s knowledge is not going to accurately reflect each student’s ability to learn and retain knowledge. Giving students an option to take a written test or write a paper should be used more to give each student the opportunity to express their knowledge.
