There is talk around Carondelet about the value of final exams. Rather than a mere rehash of what students learned during the semester, final exams should have the potential of elevating students to a higher plane of learning. A great final exam gives students the opportunity to synthesize the most important ideas they have learned and apply those ideas in new contexts.

Although final exams are a very useful culminating activity, I hate grading them. So, I would like to propose an alternative.

Here are two reasons why students should grade their own final exams:

1. Evaluating your own performance is the ultimate metacognitive activity. Students could complete an extra assignment after their final exam that leads them through a metacognitive process. Students will be required to justify their final exam grade through a number of criteria. Students will continue to learn even after the final exam!
2. At least in my classes where I give lots of assignments and tests throughout the semester, final exam scores rarely influence the student’s semester grade. Is this the case in your classes? If so, then why should we grade those exams? In the self-grading scenario, teachers grade only the final exams that move a student’s semester grade up or down.