We’ve all heard about finals from our private school friends. At least we did before they disappeared into their study-filled worlds. But aren’t we glad that most of us don’t have to suffer through the trauma that is finals? Or midterms, for that matter? 

Only a few Jackson-Reed teachers still hold finals for their students. The SciMaTech academies (Engineering and Biomedical Science) as well as a couple of other courses require their students to take culminating exams. These finals add stress for students and the inconsistency between teachers can lead to unexpected end-of-year workloads for their students.

Maryland school districts got rid of finals in 2015 as the school board voted to replace the two-hour exams at the end of the term with shorter tests throughout the quarter. This was a result of exam results in Montgomery County. According to the Washington Post, students were failing their final exams in record numbers, despite performing well on the SATs and state-level tests.

The discrepancies in student performance suggested that the exams were not accurately portraying student’s understanding of the material, and in abolishing them Montgomery County removed a lot of student stress and made students enjoy the school system more. 

Finals take up important instructional time, as well as adding unnecessary stress for students at the end of the year. They often coincide with AP exams burdening students with the weight of never-ending tests. End-of-year exams are no longer relevant or reflective of students’ knowledge.