Survey: Students doubt value of finals
By: COJO 2100 News Writing and Reporting Class
Published 12-11-2007
In a recent survey, University of Wyoming students offered a generally negative assessment of the value of final exams.
Almost six out of 10 of the 128 undergraduate respondents said final exams help them retain little or no knowledge from the course.
Nearly seven out of 10 said that, generally speaking, final exams are not a good measurement of a student’s academic performance in a course.
Alix Hakala, a senior majoring in chemistry and Spanish, said, “By the time final exams roll around, most students are so burnt out from studying, and this seems to affect their performance on the exam. However, a term paper or a project could gauge the academic progress much better.”
Most of the students shared Hakala’s preference. More than six out of 10 students (62.5 percent) said they preferred either a final project or a term paper.
The non-scientific straw poll was conducted the week before Final Exams Week by Professor George Gladney’s News Writing and Reporting (COJO 2100) writing lab. The students polled were randomly selected and responded either by email or in person. Names were kept anonymous unless a student wished to be quoted.
Students also indicated concern about levels of stress. Of those who had an opinion, 59 percent said final exams are unfair to students who suffer from test anxiety. An almost equal number of students (58.6 percent) said they typically experience moderate or high levels of stress before an exam.
How do students cope with stress? The most frequently cited method was exercise (37.5 percent), followed by sleep (28.9 percent), party (12.5 percent) and medication/chemicals (10.9 percent). Slightly more than 10 percent said they used other methods, including going to movies and listening to music.
Almost a third of the students (32.8 percent) said that, on average, they spend two to four hours studying for a final exam, while slightly more than a quarter of the students (27.3 percent) indicated five to six hours. Nearly 12 percent said they study less than two hours and slightly more than 10 percent said they study more than 10 hours.
By far the most popular type of final exam was the multiple-choice variety. Fully 56.2 percent said that is their favorite type. The next-most-popular exam was short-answer essay (27.3 percent), followed by true-false (13.3 percent) and blue-book style (3.1 percent).
J.D. Ingebrigtsen, a junior majoring in criminal justice and psychology, is one student who is not especially fond of multiple-choice exams. Ingebrigtsen said: “Personally, I feel that final exams and certain course exams throughout the semester are a poor way to measure a student’s academic performance in a class, especially multiple-choice exams. If an exam was short-answer essay, students would be able to better explain the knowledge and concepts they have taken from the course.”
Far and away the most frequently encountered exam is the multiple choice (68.8 percent), followed by short-answer essay (21.9 percent), true-false (6.2 percent) and blue-book style (3.1 percent).
More than a third of the students (35.9 percent) said they often encounter a cumulative final exam, while about the same percent (37.5) said they sometimes encounter that type. About a quarter of the students said they not often or hardly ever encounter a cumulative final.
Studying lecture notes was mentioned most frequently (41.4 percent) as the method of study that works best to the student. The next-most-popular method was underlining or highlighting parts of the textbook and reviewing (22.7 percent), followed by reading textbook (14.8 percent) and study with study group (12.5 percent). Only eight of the 128 respondents said their favorite method is to “wing it.”
Looking at the class year of respondents, 36.7 percent were juniors, 22.7 percent were sophomores, 19.5 percent were freshmen and 18.8 percent were seniors. Close to nine out of 10 (87.9 percent) said they were traditional students (under 25).
(This story was researched and written collectively by students in the News Writing and Reporting lab reserved for journalism majors only.)
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