Reflecting on the importance of final examinations

By Paige Asberry / Staff writer

Happy finals week.

This is the week in most college student’s lives that leaves them wondering why they ever decided to pursue an education in the first place. For students, final examinations are the last hurdle to jump before they find themselves free for the summer.

For many students, there doesn’t seem to be much point, except to stress them out. But what about finals week for the professors? Do teachers find a comprehensive final to be helpful, or do they, like the students, wish it was gone?

The consensus seems to be that teachers like the comprehensive final exam. Business instructor Dan “Coach Nac” Naccarato explains why he favors final exams that encompass what was learned the entire semester.

“I like the comprehensive final because it’s a great opportunity to reflect on everything the student learned throughout the entire semester, and that was really the whole point of taking the class,” Naccarato said.

He also said that his finals are low stress, since they’re open notes, but that it gives a great opportunity to think back about the things covered at the beginning of the semester.

For General Biology, the final exam is the last unit exam that’s taken during finals week. This exam is basic and does not incorporate much information from previous units. Gen Bio instructor Ryan Pinkall said that he wishes there was a comprehensive final that was composed of about 75% new material and 25% old material.

“Comprehensive finals are essential for us to gauge your retention,” Pinkall said.

Since General Biology is a general education class, Pinkall said he shares the opinion that it would be good to review the old material and make sure that students have a solid grasp of it.

Finals also help a teacher understand how effectively the class is taught. It allows them to see what things stuck with students and what concepts maybe were harder to understand.

“Sometimes, I’m disappointed that things that I thought would stick with a student didn’t, apparently, but then I’m also uplifted at the number of students that do really well on the final,” Naccarato said. “It’s like ‘Yeah, this is stuff that they can carry with them wherever they go in the future.’”

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