Uniform Final Exams



Uniform final exams (bitched about here, here and here) are a big deal in my department.  My AP keeps them under lock and key and demands that every paper be accounted for.  He expects there to be a strong correlation between grades in the class and marks on these exams.  Last year, kids who had no teacher for three months were passed based on this exam.

Today the student I have been tutoring on a daily basis (not my student) came to me for help with one problem that he said might be on his final.  Of course I helped him.  I've been helping him for weeks. Well, guess what?  The question he asked me was a problem on the exam he took the following period.  His friend gave him the example.  (I'm not teaching that course so I had no idea what was on that exam.)

Uniformity is a good idea but trying to have uniform exams over a 12 period day, with only two different forms of the exam available is ludicrous.  These exams are valueless.  The kids who passed last year passed knowing nothing but how to get by on an exam.