<p>My daughter’s school is on a trimester schedule. That means she is in the middle of finals right now. Even for courses that run all year, like English, math, science and history. She is a ninth grader. Before boarding school, she went to public school (8th grade) and kids who had a 95 or higher average were exempt from the final exams in June (except national exams like Latin). So for her, this is really her first experience with finals. Let me say, I can’t wait until she is done. She is a very good student and has studied hard for all of them, but she is so worked up. She has never had 2 1/2 hour exams with 200 plus questions (bio, history). She is basically a straight A student going into these exams, so I know she will do well, but she is not as convinced, despite saying she knew most of it. Her last one is this afternoon in honors Latin. She says she won’t know anything. For the record, we’ve never put the least amount of pressure on her. She adds enough for all of us. Can’t wait for her to get home.
zp</p>
<p>I hope your daughter does fine on her finals, but don’t be surprised or worried if she doesn’t do as well as you expect. It’s too bad (and seems unfair to the other students) that her old school had that exemption policy because tests that cover months of material are different. She is a freshman and will have many opportunities to gain experience taking finals. She may also find that finals are different in different classes. That 200-question history final may be mostly essays another year. Does her school have actual year-long finals, or just finals for each trimester?</p>
<p>The over 95 average exemption is indeed regrettable, especially if that average is polluted with non-achievement grades like homework, participation or “effort”. </p>
<p>How are the final exams weighted toward the term grade? At our public school, midterms and finals carry very little weight. It’s unfortunate in that even if a student masters something that they previously had difficulty with, and proves it on the final or midterm, the final grade doesn’t reflect that achievement. A kid could score 100 on the final and still end up with a C in the class. Conversely, a kid could get a 60 on the final and end up with a B simply because they did all the (graded) review exercises. I guess that’s why grades are so hard to “read” from school to school. </p>
<p>How does the final exam grade factor into the grade at prep schools? Is practise (homework problems) graded or just the assessments (papers, projects and tests)?</p>
<p>Finals are usually 25%-30% of the total grade, and for most classes, homework, quizzes, tests, projects and sometimes even class participation are graded.</p>
<p>zuzu-My d came from a school where bad test scores could be improved with extra work or retakes. Not so anymore. I have heard the worry about a test or paper quite a few times this year…but in every instance her grade far exceeded her fears. In one instance she had me feeling so badly for her because she “knew” she had blown a paper that I could not sleep at night, only to learn a few days latter that she had received the highest possible grade. Now, when she starts stressing/obsessing over a test I remind her that fear is a misuse of one’s imagination. But, I think taking the test seriously is good, and a little fear can force her to work harder, at least for my d. I am more concerned about the extremes, stressing/obsessing about a grade or cavalier attitude about the class.</p>
<p>I am finding my daughter is stressed about grades as her school doesn’t have number grades but HH, H, HP so she says she doesn’t really know where she stands. Her mid term grades were good, but she says she is not really sure where she stands right now. I guess she will be familiar with the process by the end of the year and feel more confident.</p>
<p>sk8:
Ask the teacher for a grade distribution report.</p>
<p>IMO some of the stress with finals may be our own: we get frustrated when we can’t do anything about a situation (and here, we can’t even give our kids a hug!). My d came from a day school where the exams drill was prety similar to her BS, but she’s feeling it more now because its HS, not middle school. They will become more familiar with it, and frankly, it’s not so awful if they get used to major exams 2-3 times a year and become old pros at it well before their years.</p>
<p>Son takes the last final tomorrow before hopping on the afternoon train home <em>Yay</em>. He’d better get an A in Theatre because to me, he has clearly demonstrated his dramatic skills while recapping the horror that is “Finals Week” during late night phone calls. Matter of fact, I think that’s him calling now…</p>
<p>Has anyone seriously ever asked for a grade distribution report? It has not been our experience that it is reported by our student that teachers only sporadically say what the mean grade was etc.</p>
<p>Welcome to private school! Finals week is the worst part!<br>
Also… at my school they’ll announce whose averages are above 95 (usually only 2 to 3 people from each grade, they are proud of being a very hard school) and if you make it there, you can determine how you did among your classmates.</p>