It is important that students understand that taking a final is an important part of their educational process. To create a positive atmosphere the following guidelines have been developed.
What type of final must be given? Teachers may choose the type of final they wish to give. Possible choices:
- Written assessment (chapter test, unit test or comprehensive)
- Online (chapter test, unit test or comprehensive)
- Performance based (Art classes and physical education classes may find developing some performance based test to work best). The key is this day should be different from most days (this means not just working on a project or playing kick ball).
What may not occur during finals or review days?
- No parties of any kind.
- No movies are to be shown during class time.
- No games.
- No students leaving your classroom.
Grade value
- Freshmen are taking finals for the first time. It is important we teach them how to best prepare for such a test. This means their finals should have minimum value (no more then any other test).
- Seniors have been taking finals for four years. Not only should they be developing their skills for taking a final they also need to understand the pressures of this type of test. Therefore, their final may have great impact on their grade. This value should not be more then 10% (one grade).
Recommendations
- A comprehensive final provides the instructor with feedback on how well the students retained the important information from the semester. This type of test also takes the most time to prepare for.
- Schedule a final that will take up most of the class time.
- Make sure students bring something to work on when they complete the final or make sure you have developed something to keep students focus.
