Do End-of-Year Exams Matter?

Tests and exams strike dread in the hearts of many students and especially if they are end-of-year exams. Some children approach them by studying diligently weeks. Another group ignores the reality of exams until a last-minute cramming session is the call of the hour!

But do end-of-year exams really matter?

Not so much in primary and middle school, but they do take on more importance in later years—and not always for the reasons you might think.

Helping You Decide on the Right Courses to Study in Coming Years

Exams can mean the difference between whether you qualify for a program of study or don’t get accepted. They also help teachers get a comprehensive peek at your strengths and weaknesses. By evaluating your end of year performance, your instructors will be in a better position to recommend the appropriate courses for you. In general, they use exams to assess the following:

• Your ability to communicate ideas
• Your study skills
• Your knowledge of the subject
• The progress you’ve made through the academic year
• Your ranking in class
• The type of questions you do well on (essay, multiple choice, short answer)

Armed with this information, you and your teachers can make confident decisions about the right course placements in coming years.

Still, a lot comes down to your preferences. Consider two students who score average grades on an end-of-year math exam. One of them excels in all other subjects may take up the challenge. She may sign up for an extra math course, meet with an online math tutor and improve her math skills. While, the other student may use the average grade to focus on subjects that she actually he excels in. The main thing is that you need to have a firm understanding of your preferences and use that information to chart your learning path.

Building the Base for the Next Academic Year (and Beyond)

End-of-year exams help set the foundation for your next academic year and beyond. To give an example, say you’re planning to go to college in two years. How well you do on your end of year exam can:

• Affect your final scores/credits in the admission process
• Play a role in whether you’ll be accepted in certain colleges
• Demonstrate your strengths and weaknesses in a subject

All of the above three could play a vital role to the colleges you should apply to and those which accept you. Say, you don’t do too well on an exam. For the next academic year, you might not qualify for a course that’ll not seem impressive to your preferred college. In such a situation, you’ll be compelled to consider a different set of schools.

Or, since you didn’t do well on the exam, you still have one year to turn things around. Maybe you’ll spend additional hours on an extracurricular that will impress a certain school or get online help for certain concepts included in the syllabus.

Exams can be tedious, sometimes scary, but they do give students a baseline to work from. They help students take charge of their future.