By: Mikayla Ho, Staff Writier

Finals are a time when many students begin to prepare for exams and projects. During this time, students study endlessly to prove what they’ve learned throughout the semester in two hours. In other classes, students tirelessly work on slideshows and reread their flashcards to ensure a smooth presentation.

Around Mills High School, every teacher has their own style of teaching. They also have their own opinions on final exams. Whether it be a cumulative exam or a final project, there are different perspectives on why these two types of finals are given.

For Ms. Tara Donohoe who’s part of the Social Science Department, she believes projects are the way to go for her Ethnic Studies class. “We do a project as a final because the goal of our ethnic studies work is for you all to be active community members who are acting for justice, and so we like for you to have a capstone project where you’re trying to improve something at Mills,” she says.

Projects offer much more freedom for students to express what they’ve acquired throughout the semester. Media Arts and Video Production teacher Ms. Serena Arge believes that the best way to learn is doing project based learning. “It’s much more about acquiring skills and making projects. It’s more important that, ideally, students remember the vocabulary for properly describing art with a specific terminology, but it’s ultimately also about making the art and showing that you know the terms through the things that you make,” she explains.

While projects give students the opportunity to prove their potential, it can be time consuming. “A project takes a lot of time on the teacher’s end, a lot of preparation, a lot of scaffolding and supporting, and then it takes a lot of class time that we want to provide you with, and then it takes a lot of time to present,” says Ms. Donohoe.

Often, the decision depends on the subject. “My class is very skill heavy, and it takes a lot of time to develop the skills, so I feel that projects best represent what students know for my content area,” Ms. Arge states. 

While there are some teachers who like projects, others think otherwise. Mr. Alex Lira, a Social Science Department teacher, strongly disagrees with giving his students projects. He believes that projects prevent students from proving what they have learned throughout the semester. “I like cumulative exams because it gives the students a chance to pull everything together. They learn to revisit the material and to put everything on the last unit like in perspective,” he says

Though projects give students creative freedom, it’s really up to the students to actually do the work when they are given this opportunity. “When we did the multiplying polynomials project, I had like twenty-five kids that just didn’t turn it in. So since it wasn’t like, this is when it starts, this is when it ends test, then there’s a bunch of kids that just ended up getting a zero,” recounted Algebra 1 teacher Ms. Molly Kovacs.

Exams are great preparation for the future. “When I taught Ethnic Studies, we had a midterm and a final, and I really think that really prepared them for AS Modern World History because we have tests and we have writing and written docs that we are developing,” says Mr. Lira. Not only do exams prepare students for future classes, but they also apply in the real world. “If you don’t go to college, you still have exams in the real world. Driver’s Ed: what is there a project for driver’s Ed? No, it’s an exam.”

Grappling exams aren’t easy, especially when you only get two hours to complete it.“I think the downside is always one, like anxiety. So since it is a finite amount of time and a very specific question, some people’s brains get really stressed out, and then you don’t do well, so that’s always a downside,” remarks Ms. Kovacs. For the spring semester final in Ms. Kovacs’ class, she will assign a project instead of a classic exam.

Although teachers are the ones who administrate finals, the opinions of students shouldn’t go unnoticed. “It depends on the class. I prefer paper exams on STEM classes and projects on humanities,” says Haylee Yuan (12) “Humanities are more creative, STEM is more logical.”

The decision of whether finals should be exams or projects ultimately depends on the course material and the preference of teachers. Educators’ main aim is to equip students with the knowledge and skills needed for future success. Whatever method they choose is what they think is best for students, whether it be exams or projects.