Arad Mehrabian’ 27
End-of-the-year finals may cause an immense amount of stress for students, but the stress finals cause can highly differ depending on the choice of the finals. Final exams and projects are very complicated matters. This article dives into the different aspects of finals and the differences between final exams and projects. It is important to note that neither final exams nor projects are 100% better than the others; it is merely a matter of balance and context of the situation.
Twenty-seven out of thirty St. Andrew’s students said they preferred to have final projects over exams.
When I asked freshman Nadya Thomas why she preferred final projects over final exams, she said, “While I think I spend more time on final projects than I do for final exams, I prefer projects because they are easier and less stressful than final exams.”
She, like the majority of the students interviewed, emphasized that she would much rather have final projects over exams and said, “I retain information better when I do a final project because I feel more motivated and comfortable emotion ally.”
This is precisely what Dr. Kelleher, the Chair of Research at the Center of Transformative Teaching and Learning, said when asked about the role emotion plays in final exams. Dr. Kelleher stated that “positive emotions play a crucial role in performing well in finals.”
While one may think that students prefer projects because they are lazy and do not want to spend time studying, the truth behind students’ opinions is fascinating. Freshman Lukas Anderson acknowledges that “final projects are more time-consuming than final tests” but prefers projects as they are more enjoyable for him.
Sophomore Mathew Strasnick said that “final projects are more fun, so [he] would rather have them over final exams” emphasizing the enjoyment of projects.
When asked what the advantages and disadvantages of final projects and exams are, Dr. Kelleher said that “projects give students a chance to dive really deep into the topic that exams do not allow them to do nearly as well.”
He said that “the true understanding of the topic happens when you take that knowledge and skills learned in class and transfer it into a new context.” He said that “projects are perfect for this” and that tests do not allow students to form those outside-of-context connections to other areas of the world.
Dr. Kelleher did say that traditional exams have benefits too. He said that after graduating from St. Andrew’s, students must feel prepared for high-stakes exams in the future in universities, med school, law school, etc…
“This is why it is essential that “[final exams] cannot be too easy,” he said.
Dr. Kelleher also said that students should be able to feel “real stress and handle it properly.” While he said that too much stress is a bad thing, he does not want students to have no stress whatsoever.