I believe that schools should get rid of all end-of-semester finals.

These tests feel redundant more than anything. Students have already taken tests over the material to see if they have retained the information, so having one big test at the end of the semester just is not necessary.

On any other tests, students can look back at answers and try to fix what they did wrong. On the finals at the end of the semester, however, that is not the case. All the finals represent is how well a student can retain material from the start of the semester to the end even though they have taken other quizzes and tests that have essentially done the same.

I cram in a week before the exam, and then once the test is over, none of it matters anymore. The purpose of other tests in the year is to make sure students are learning material taught. A test with everything that we learned in semester just adds stress to everyone involved. Teachers have to create big tests, grade them and add another grade into the gradebook, and students deal with tests that can hurt their grades more often than not.

Another big reason finals should not exist is the mental stress it places on students. For too many, they have to pass these high stakes tests to pass classes. For seniors, these can affect whether they graduate or not. That is not fair to them nor is it necessary.

There are more important things in life than whether or not a person passes a big end-of-semester test, so I think final exams should be taken out of the curriculum.