With finals season coming to a close and all the stress and studying slowly shutting down, there’s all one thing we know for sure: students hate finals. Whether it’s the stress or the pressure finals sure can be overwhelming… but what do the teachers handing them out think? Do they see students’ struggles?

Some believe finals are a good thing, like Ms. Ham who teaches math says, “It’s a good way to summarize the end of the semester.” Ms. Davidson agrees saying, “It’s good to know where kids are before they move up a class.”

Finals can be a helpful way to see what you’ve learned which is especially important in STEM classes. Teachers in favor of them see finals as a great way to prepare students for what they should expect in college.

On the other hand, there are teachers like Mr. Nimni who are “not the biggest fan.” He says that “there are some spaces where it [finals] makes more sense than others”. Instead of a formal final, Nimni opts for a final project or a small unit test to wrap up the semester.

Mr. Reed explains, “It’s all contextual,” agreeing that it depends on the class, which is why he doesn’t give out a final as a business teacher. However, if he were a history teacher he would. “If you’re giving a final just to give a final, that doesn’t make a lot of sense,” he adds.

There are some teachers that do not enjoy finals at all, like Ms. Cassano. She said they’re “really hard to take it in one day,” especially in English classes. This is because “writing reading in all one setting takes longer to be assessed.” Ms. Goehring, another English teachers, has a similar opinion adding on, “For what I teach they do not serve a purpose.”

Whatever teachers’ current opinions are, they can all agree on the stress of taking finals looking back. Both Ms. Goehring and Mr. Nimni remember them being “super stressful.” Ms. Ham recalls final being, “a little bit scary!”

Teachers understand how stressful finals can be. They were once students too! Overall the pros and cons of finals depend on the teacher!