When school resumed after winter weather, students in all grades studied hard to prepare for final exams.  This year the school policy regarding final exams changed, allowing students from every grade to be exempt rather than just seniors as it had been in years past.  Along with the new exemptions policy, several classes were required to take North Carolina Final Exams that never had to before.  Teachers and students provided statements regarding those changes and even offered some encouragement for those preparing for exams.  

Because exemptions were available for students of all grades, there were some mixed feelings about how fair it was to bring about this policy, when in previous years final exam exemptions were only a privilege offered to seniors.  Freshman Maggie Finn offered her opinion.

“I think in some ways it’s fair, but I know senior year you [used to] get exempt from exams.  If I was a senior I would be pretty mad about it,” Finn said.

While some found it unfair to the seniors to let everyone have exemptions, others thought it was reasonable to let everyone have the chance to be exempt from finals.  Senior Jiselle Vellaringattu explained how she felt it was fair for those that work hard to be rewarded.

“I do think it’s fair that everybody gets exempt from finals if they have the certain grade and number of absences,” Vellaringattu said.  “I think it makes sense because everyone works hard in their classes, so everyone should be exempt if they have the good grade.”

Teachers argued on both sides whether it was fair to let everyone be exempt.  Freshman world history teacher David Phillips believed that it was seniors who needed to be taking the exams more than any other grade.

“When you get to college you may have only one or two exams the entire semester, a midterm and a final,” Phillips said.  “To exempt people who are closest to experiencing that in college from preparing for something like that is counterproductive to what they need to be accomplishing.”

On the other side, senior civics and economics teacher Aaron Tipping argued in favor of rewarding seniors.

“Seniors have done a lot of standardized tests,” Tipping said.  “They’re getting ready for college; they’re getting ready to figure out what kind of career they want to be in, so I think having those incentives for seniors is a good thing because if you are a freshman, sophomore, or junior I think those [tests] are still very important to have.”

This year new classes were added to the list of classes with required state-made exams.  In these specific classes, even if a student fit the final exam exemption criteria, all students were required by the state to take the exam.  For some students, state-made exams brought a whole new level of stress because teachers weren’t certain what material would be on the test.  Teachers who taught classes with state-made exams revealed that they would have preferred to make their own exam for their students if they had had the chance.

“Because I’m the one who has worked with students all semester long, I know what material I’ve covered, how I’ve covered it, and what I believe to be fair,” Phillips said.  

Tipping made a similar statement to Phillips, restating that he knew what topics he covered with his students.

“I think that there are a lot of pros and cons to state exams, but I would rather have my own exam because I know what I’ve taught my kids and I know what standards I have to cover in my curriculum,” Tipping said.  

Students felt similar to teachers in the way that they prefered teacher-made exams over state-made exams.

“I think I work harder in a class with a state made exam because in a teacher made exam, the teacher knows us as a student and knows what sort of questions to focus on,” Vellaringattu said.

Along with having a better idea of what to expect, teacher-made exams come with the benefit of exemptions.

“If I get good grades I can get exempt from teacher made finals, so I’d rather be in a class with a teacher made exam,” Finn said.

As final exams drew closer, teachers and students offered some words of encouragement to motivate those studying for teacher made finals and state made finals.

“I would say good luck to everybody and to study hard,” Vellaringattu said.

“The state made exam usually has a curve on it so you can know that if no one else really gets it then you will get points back for that question.  It will always turn out to be better than you think,” Finn said.

“My advice would be don’t dwell too heavily on it.  Definitely take it seriously, take your classes seriously, but don’t overly stress about it,” Tipping said.