The Lo-down: In-class Finals v. ‘Formal’ Finals

“The finals are coming! The finals are coming!” High school students across the nation are gearing up: grabbing their books, finding the nearest chair, and intensely studying for finals, Regents, and AP exams! While all of these exams are supposed to take place at the end of the year, some come sooner than others.  Some students prefer taking these in-class exams at this early point in the year, while others would opt out of taking any before June 7th.

The classes that give finals before ‘regents weeks’ are most often electives, since they are shorter than most core classes.  Other subject areas may not give an in-class exam because they need more time to go over material.  These earlier in-class final exams tend to be a favorite to most students.  Senior Alex Gordon explained, “In-class exams are generally easier due to their forty minute time constraints. It makes the whole exam feel a little less ‘scary.'”  “I have less [finals] to take during regents week,” added junior Joe Lim.

Sophomore Isaiah Anthony disagrees. He believes that it’s better to take exams during finals weeks, adding “It allows for more in-class study time.” Freshman Spencer Kirschman added that some exams should given in-class because “they increase the amount of time we have [to study for other exams during finals week].

A type of in-class finals that are not quite in-class are the AP exams. Multiple students said they preferred taking the AP exams during May because they could get these harder exams out of the way, so they can study for the regents or other finals.  As for the formal final exams, students had mixed feelings about taking them in June. Benefits to taking final exams in a formal setting at the end of June are that students have much more time to complete the exam.  Downsides to taking these exams at the end of the year is the hype for summer. Many students may be less focused than they would have if they exams were earlier in the year.

It’s a general trend that students like to take many of their exams during finals week simply because of the tradition. Regents exams have been given about the same way since their “invention” during the Civil War, in 1874!  Good luck for your finals, whether they’re in-class or in June.