Each semester, as finals approach, students have ranging reactions, from stress to anxiety to failure to excitement. However, students might not realize that they are not the only ones that have to prepare, as instructors do as well.
John Carpenter, Bakersfield College sociology instructor, said that the preparation of a final for the first time can be a very time-consuming process.
“Finals are intended to be an effective gauge of the degree to which the students have acquired the core elements of the course, and they allow the instructor to determine his or her effectiveness,” he said.
“As such, the questions asked should be given a great deal of consideration in order to accomplish both goals.”
Many instructors feel that it is their responsibility to ensure that students have the knowledge they require to do well in the class, on the finals, and also in their career.
Carpenter explained that finals should be an effort to ensure students have knowledge of the core curriculum for many reasons.
“The students need to take from the class those things that are important for them to know about the topic,” he said. “It will be of benefit in future educational endeavors, future employment, and for life in general.”
Kathleen Bruce, a BC allied health instructor of medical terminology, said, “It is my job to be sure the mystery of finals is removed.”
Although instructors might have varying ways of preparing for finals, Bruce believes that teaching study skills and student development throughout the course is a key way to ensure student success on finals and in the course.
“Finals are a demonstration of learning and not memorization,” she said. “If the students have acquired study skills, and I have covered and taught the material, then the final is just another exam.”
She called the final a “test of endurance,” saying, “It is built by confidence and ‘fighting the fight’ through the semester. Students need to acquire study habits, or skills, to endure and fight a good fight, not give up.”
Julie Marty-Pearson, a BC adjunct instructor of psychology, said that she does see a change in student effort over the course of a semester. Marty-Pearson explained that during the middle of the semester she sees a drop off in both student effort and attendance.
“As the end of the semester approaches, students start to realize that final grades are approaching, that they need to get caught up on things, and start coming to me more for help on assignments and with general questions about their grades,” she said.
Marty-Pearson, Carpenter, and Bruce agreed that the idea of finals is favorable in testing student knowledge of what is defined in the course description. However, they do think that there are different ways of doing this.
Bruce said, “I believe finals should be a demonstration of learning what is necessary to support the description of the class.
“If the quizzes or tests scaffold throughout the class development, then the class is comprehensive the whole semester and the final should test what is the least-practiced information.”
Marty-Pearson said she believes that there are a number of ways to assess whether the students have learned the required material, including comprehensive — an accumulation of all information learned throughout an entire semester — or regular exams, presentations, or a research paper.
“All of these assignments are important to the process of teaching and learning for both the student and the professor,” she said.
She explained that the method of testing student knowledge could be situational, saying that she doesn’t think certain finals should be comprehensive for semester classes like those of BC.
“We have covered so much information over a long period of time that I have formatted my classes to have several exams throughout [the semester] covering each section of material, usually several weeks worth,” Marty-Pearson said. She explained that she has found that to be the best method of teaching the course material and assessing student knowledge.
Although instructors might have different ways of assessing student knowledge, among many BC instructors, there might be a consensus that finals are necessary.
Carpenter said that finals should have a focus on the latter portion of the class but should still have a degree of comprehensiveness.
“A comprehensive final allows the instructor to determine how effective he or she was in imparting the course content in a way that actually accounted for an increase in knowledge for the students,” he said.