Why Finals Are Important

The time of the year has come which students stress the most about – finals. A question that only a select few group of individuals consider is this: why exactly do we have finals? What is the purpose of having finals?

Most students despise finals because it determines which direction their grade will go, last minute. They’ve worked the whole year to maintain a certain letter grade, but if they are on the verge of it going down a letter or up, finals could determine everything. Other than the fact that they sway your grades, what most students don’t realize is that there is a specific reason we have finals in all educational institutions.

They aren’t meant to stress you out, even if unknowingly that is their affect. Finals were implemented to review all the curriculum throughout the semester that the teacher has gone over. Most students forget the material they learn once they are taught it. This is something teachers and staff try their best to prevent – but to no avail.

The only strategy for students to fully, or somewhat, remember the things they are being taught is to either practice it or review everything once and for all. For most classes that aren’t language classes, practicing the material you have learned isn’t exactly possible.

Finals are a teacher’s way to encourage students to go back over the material they have been taught and not forget important lessons from the class. Most students tend to throw out something the second after they have completed a test on a subject – thinking they no longer need to worry about. This is true, to an extent.

Despite the fact that finals are associated with stress, the main purpose that it has is to remind students of everything they should have brought back from a class. Whether it effectively does this or not, is debatable. But one thing’s for sure: finals are essentially meant to be reviews and they should be taken seriously, especially if it pertains to a class that could apply to you in the future.