Many students have noticed teachers only putting their tests in the grade book. Many students find this unfair and feel like it doesn’t always represent all of the work they put into the learning.

This affects some students negatively because they aren’t good test-takers. Many students do all of the homework, put their phones away, really listen in class, and still, the end test is a stressful mess.

Sophomore Kate Gore says, “We do a lot of work and I would like that work to be shown and reflected in my grade.” She then goes on to talk about how she would rather have projects every week or two to represent the work we have done, opposed to one cumulative test. “I agree with summative assessments as a cumulative grade,” she says. 

A test or exam doesn’t always represent what a student can truly do. Sometimes it is frustrating because all the work they put in isn’t rewarded with a good grade, but a bad one. The learning should be represented in the grade, testing is a complicated way to show that.

Test-taking is a skill, and one that many students struggle with, having only tests in the grade book is not always a good way to show what a student knows. When a student does the homework and classwork they should be graded accordingly.