At my school we have a very unusual way of going about taking finals.... our rule is this:
if you haven't missed a class more than three days that semester and you are not failing the class you don't have to take the final. Now I think this idea can be good or bad.
On the bad side there is the fact that only 1% seperates the passing from the failing. So kids getting a D- can STILL opt out! Is that really fair to those of us who work our butts off everyday of the school year to get A's and B's? Not to mention, even excused classes count against you, so even if you had mono and couldn't come to school for a few weeks you would still have to take the final.
On the positive side, it's wonderfull to get out of school a few days early when you don't have to take your finals. Of course, I always choose to take the test in any class I don't have an A in, so I've never gotten that pleasure. Another good thing is that it rewards kids for staying in school and passing.
I just want to know what other people's opinion is on this and what your schools policy is/was!
thank you!
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As long as the policy mandates that students still get what they deserve in the class, seems fine to me. If someone wants a D- in a class, they can choose to skip out on the final instead of studying to possibly bring that up to a better grade. If a student has an A going in, they can rest a little easier knowing that they've done enough to warrant that grade.
Personally, the only finals I've been exempted from are those in certain classes I've already had an A in. These were sophomore level math in 8th grade (me and the other 8th grade student, plus one other person in the class, were the only ones to get exempted), and my biochemistry class last semester, because I would have had to bomb the final to get less than an A, and he didn't want to grade the extra exams.
~C
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I've never been exempted from a final before just because of the grade I had. I don't like the idea of excusing them mainly because one of the purposes of high school is to prepare you for college. In college, you will be required to take a final regardless of your grade in the class, medical excuses, dead family, etc. unless you petition the heartless dean. Many colleges also have a requirement that the final be cumulative and worth over 1/3 of the final grade. If you've prepared for finals before that are either worth more points but noncumulative or that are cumulative and unweighted, then you are more likely to do well once you have "real" finals in college.
I get people asking me if they can not take the final if they have a good grade in college chemistry. I usually laugh at them.
F*** Religion. Read more here:
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It completely and wholly depends on the instructor and the structure of the class. I was exempted from my biochem final, along with about 5 other people, because I had a high enough grade in the class that I would have had to do very poorly on the final in order to NOT get an A in the class.
This was a 400-level college biology class.
I've also simply not had finals in some classes, resulting in me getting out of class a week early. I've had finals that didn't count towards my final grade (but rather used along with the rest of the class for diagnostic purposes). Those were also college classes, many of them upper division classes.
~C
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I agree with you... allthough I must admit it feels pretty good to be on the computer in my cozy bedroom rather than sitting in a hard chair and writing my little heart out taking a test!
Oh, certainly. I would have loved to not had finals in high school, but overall I'm glad I did because it helped me to be ready for college.
F*** Religion. Read more here:
http://www.progressiveu.org/020528-f-religion