As the end of the first semester approaches, so do St. Louis High School’s final exams scheduled for Jan. 16, and 17. St. Louis traditionally breaks our exam periods into two days to allow CTE students to take their exams simultaneously.
Semester exams are often given to test students on knowledge learned and to let teachers reflect on their teaching.
Senior Annie Breen shared her thoughts on exams, stating, “I feel that exams have been mostly negative in the past, especially within my mindset and attitude during that time. As a senior, I am so excited to be done with high school exams. They hold so much stress even though they will hold stress in college as well.” Breen further shared, “I do think that exams can be beneficial for students because they need to learn the curriculum and understand the subjects. It’s not enjoyable for anyone, but I think it is necessary.” she finalized.
Sophomore Lily Wing also shared, “Exams have been both a positive and negative experience for me because I’ve gotten good grades but also experienced lots of stress. Sometimes exams are good for students, but most of the time they can be a struggle because not everyone is great at taking tests.”
When discussing how her exams are delivered, Chemistry teacher Michaela Godwin stated, “It sometimes depends on where we fall within the different units, but I usually focus my exams on the most recent unit we covered with a portion of comprehensive questions, so the exams have more questions than normal tests and do include a comprehensive part. They are set up very similar for the most part except for my Forensic Science class, which is usually project-based.” Furthermore, Godwin shared, “I think it’s important to measure student growth and exams allow us to collect data. It allows students to see how much knowledge they have gained throughout the school year,” she concluded.
