High School Exam Exemptions - pros/cons

Parents Forum
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<p>at our school, you can get out of an exam only if you take the AP or IB.</p>

<p>my friends constantly speak of the injustice of having to take an exam, how all of your work over a semester can be ruined in 2 hours, and how it’s just so not fair. They say we should have “double-A exemption” so that if you got an A both quarters of the semester, you don’t have to take an exam.</p>

<p>I know it’s really because we HS students are a bunch of lazy bums. I think the concept is a bunch of crap brought about by kids who want to get out of school (in our school system, you have exam week at the end of the semester, and have up to 2 2-hour exams, getting you out at around 12) for a whole day. If you can’t muster a C on an exam (C is the minimum grade required to retain an A while going A-A over the two quarters), then you frankly don’t deserve an A. </p>

<p>And I think it’s also a good point that students need to demonstrate that they really understand the material. If you’ve forgotten everything you’ve learned to the extent that you can’t get above a D on the exam, even with studying, then you don’t deserve an A. How will you be able to do well in college courses where the grade for the class is largely comprised of an exam? Have you really learned something if you’ve only mastered it to the extent that you can spit it out on tests and assignments immediately after it’s been taught to you? </p>

<p>My school’s math department has a policy I find very fair. In all other departments, the final grade is calculated by taking the average of the quarter grades (weighted 75%, only 4 for A, 3 for B, 2 for C, etc) and adding it to the exam grade (weighted 25%, with same grade-number correspondence). In our math department, they will do either this, or, if it results in a better grade, take the averages of your quarter grades by percentage, with the same weighting, and adding the percentage score of your final grade, with the same weighting.</p>

<p>This means that you can get an A, a high B, and a high B on the exam and still get an A. I think this is more fair, as it doesn’t make your semester grade hinge on a question or two in a two-hour exam. But it still requires you have a mastery of the course.</p>

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<p>Many freshman and soph year exams in college are cumulative. Better to learn how to prepare for those in HS rather than in college, where the midterm and the final may be the preponderance of one’s grade.</p>

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<p>^ I agree.</p>

<p>Seniors are exempt from final exams (1st and 2nd semester) if they meet or exceed reqs on state exams. What rubbish! I stamped my feet and insisted DD take finals 1st semester and she went from B+ to A- in one class.</p>

<p>Now it’s 2nd semester Sr. year, and she’s the lone senior in jr. level classes. I’m wondering how delighted the teachers are to provide finals a week early, or if they’ll refuse to provide one since she’s exempt. In one class she has a B++… Stay tuned.</p>

<p>I also really want to know the history behind exam exemptions. Did a quick internet search and came up empty handed. I don’t recall having this in my days - is it something newish?</p>

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<p>Forgot to add that one teacher told her exempt seniors that if they took the exam, it could count against them. This sort of thing doesn’t make me think well of their motives.</p>

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<p>I think this senior exempt from exams is somewhat “newish.” Perhaps it’s because the APs so dominate the scene and those tests are in May. The AP is the exam for AP classes in our district. Some teachers have an additional paper, but most just wind the class down. I think that ED and the number of kids that apply for colleges early in the fall as opposed to Jan/Feb from many moons ago also spurred the seniors exempt from exams as the kids know where they are going, the rankings are done, the announcements to the world have gone out about the top scholars…the final spring exams for seniors dont’ carry a ton of “weight.” And lastly, our district and many others in our region have commencement before school is even out for the summer (in our case it is the weekend before the exams) hence, if they were to reinstitute exams for seniors, they would be graduated and diploma in hand before the exams were taken. I’d have a real problem and be standing before the school board in a heartbeat if our district exempted anyone but the seniors in the spring but I don’t have a problem with letting the seniors go. My junior son came home today and said that Friday was the seniors’ “last day.” Frankly, the juniors, sophomores and freshman are all glad to see them “gone.” It gives them all a chance to settle down and finish up the year and take exams without all the craziness the seniors seem to perpetuate this time of year.</p>

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<p>Our school (in Ohio) allows exemptions based on a combination of grades (need to have an A), attendance (fewer than X days absent) and lack of disciplinary issues. Teachers are permitted to NOT allow exemptions in their class. DD2 took the AP test for Calc and still has to take the final, and the same for AP English. She will exempt Honors Chem (for which she took the AP test) and French 4 (I think). With these stringent requirements to exempt, I don’t think it’s a bad thing. Both DDs have had to study for cumulative finals prior to moving on to college.</p>

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<p>I am glad my kid has never had exam exceptions. I am in favor of big cumulative exams that force the students to put it all together at the end and show, to themselves as much as to the teachers, how much they have learned. That is what makes the AP exams and SAT subject tests so valuable.</p>

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<p>I would love it if my son could be exempt from SOMETHING. He’ll have a full day of class on a M and T and then two three-hour finals Weds, two three-hour finals Thurs, and one three-hour final Fri. He has solid, sold A’s in his foreign language, history, and English. If only he could get out of at least one of these it would make studying for finals much easier… No AP classes this year; he is a freshman. I am so glad band and PE do not have finals!</p>

<p>At least colleges have READING DAYS…</p>

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<p>Haven’t read through all the comments, so forgive me if this is repeating. Our HS used to be wildly generous withexemptions to encourage attendance and keeping that A average. After polling graduates for a few years it became obvious that having kids hit college without having faced a serious final in 2 years was a real drawback.</p>

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<p>Back in the 1970s our school exempted seniors from the final exams of the year if we were getting a B or better. It was a present both to us and to the teachers. In fact, I’m pretty sure I got a B I didn’t deserve in AP French because the teacher didn’t want to write an exam just for me. We had pretty serious finals for the fall term - blue books in the gym, college was easy compared to high school for me.</p>

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<p><<back in=“” the=“” 1970s=“” our=“” school=“” exempted=“” seniors=“” from=“” final=“” exams=“” of=“” year=“” if=“” we=“” were=“” getting=“” a=“” b=“” or=“” better.=“”>></back></p>

<p>My HS (same time period) did the same. But we didn’t have AP classes.</p>

<p>I am “fixing” the senior exemption rule for my kids to some extent by making them take some dual credit classes. They can’t exempt those exams! (yup - “Mean Mom” - that’s me!)</p>

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<p>At my D’s school, you are exempted for the final exam of a class if you are taking the AP or IB exam, and did not miss more than 3 days for the current semester. OR </p>

<p>if you have all A and did not miss more than 3 days of school. However, you must show up at school during exam otherwise it count as unexcused absences. This last rule created a lot of headaches at my house because my daughter is exempted because of AP/IB, but still have to get out of bed every morning to go “waste her time”.</p>

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<p>At my high school, only seniors are allowed to be exempt. The rules for exemptions are
If you have a C in a class and no more than one excused absence, you are exempt.
If you have a B in a class and no more than two excused absences, you are exempt.
If you have an A in a class and no more than three excused absences, you are exempt.</p>

<p>However, you cannot have <em>any</em> unexcused tardies or absences or else you forfeit <em>all</em> exam exemptions.</p>

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<p>last year at our school we were able to exempt one exam if we had no detentions and an B+ and up. Now only the seniors can exempt their exams if they have less than 3 absences and an A in the class. Personally i loved the first policy because it allowed me to concentrate on my other class exams but i didn’t mind the seniors being able to exempt. Next year they’re getting rid of the privilege all together :(</p>

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<p>I go to a school in central Tennessee, where about 65-70% of the graduates go on to higher education. The exemption for policy is uniform for every grade and it goes something like this:</p>

<p>You are exempt if you have the following:
no more than 3 absences and an A
no more than 2 absences and a B
no more than 1 absence and a C
no absences and a D </p>

<p>All students are encouraged to take an exam even if they are exempt because it won;t count badly towards their grade if they do badly; essentially, it can only “help” them.</p>

<p>However, any student enrolled in an honors, AP, or IB class must take the exam, regardless of exemption qualifications.</p>

<p>So the best and the brightest, you know, the ones who make the grades and come to class, still have to take the exam anyway.</p>

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<p>At my kids’ HS, we have exam exemptions. Have to have over a 90 average for the year and not missed a certain number of classes (D checked and excused absences are NOT included).</p>

<p>The argument that they won’t have the experience of preparing for an exam that covers a whole’s year worth of material doesn’t hold water here. They still have to take NYS Regents exams and AP exams in nearly all subject areas throughout HS.</p>

<p>I have no problem with this exemption. I think it is motivating (D knows what she has to get in the 4th Q to be exempt from her intro to calc exam - no Regents or AP exam, so there’s only a school final - and this is good with senioritis hitting big-time).</p>

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<p>No exemptions at our strong public suburban high school, unless the teacher, in rare cases, grants his/her own exemptions. Sometimes the teacher will assign a paper instead, or simply not give a final. NY may not be the most test-happy state, but it’s up there. We have Regents subject exams, AP exams, and usually class-specific exams.</p>

<p>In some AP classes, if students don’t take the AP exam, they must take a subject exam instead. Though I don’t know how this works when the teacher grades, since the results of the AP exams aren’t known until long after report cards come out (it’s kind of quirky here). The oddest thing is that the AP Physics exam is always scheduled for the week after graduation. So seniors who graduate on Friday night still have to come in on Monday for the final. :rolleyes:</p>

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<p>My school doesn’t offer exemptions except for second-semester seniors, and even then, the policy varies. Some teachers won’t mandate a final if you have a C in the class, while others require a B or even an A to skip the final. Some AP classes won’t let you get out of the final without taking the AP test, and sometimes that’s the only requirement for skipping the final. This policy is a bit of an annoyance as students have to inquire about every class what the policy is, since they vary so wildly.
Personally, I agree with exam exemptions if and only if another test covering all the class material (AP test, state tests, SAT subject tests, etc.) is taken instead. As others have noted, finals only grow more important in college, and opting out of them without a replacement test will just serve to give kids more of a gap between high school and college expectations.</p>