Final Exams Don't Work

Colleges need to eliminate midterms and finals. ASAP

The argument against this would be that this might make students happy, but it won’t make them smarter. Well, turns out that’s not true.

Eliminating finals and midterms will make students happier and smarter.

Here’s how.

Andrew Silvel, an economics professor at The University of Washington St. Louis struggled with low attendance and mediocre test scores from his classes.

He tried countless ways to fix this.

Pop quizzes, withholding PowerPoint slides, in class participation points, etc.

Nothing was working. Until he got rid of the midterm and final.

Silvel replaced the midterm and final with 9 quizzes throughout the semester. The results were astounding.

Not only did attendance rise dramatically, but he found the quality of class discussions and competencies elevated to a new level. He was amazed with what we was seeing.

But what explains this? Science.

Many studies support exactly what Silvel was seeing. And that is that students perform better when they utilize spaced repetition in their studies. Instead of learning a topic, moving on to the next one, and then studying the whole semesters worth of material the week before the final, spacing the review of a topic is far more beneficial.

Studies show this to be the far superior study method. And its exactly what Silvel built into his course. Spaced repetition.

Because of this, students were retaining the material better, getting higher scores on tests, and actually showing up because they enjoyed getting good scores and understanding the material. Win, win, win.

So what does this mean for you?

Let me say it one more time: spaced repetition is key.

When you are studying for the CPA exam, make sure you are going back and refreshing the old material. Don’t just focus on one area for a whole week, move on to the next, and never go back to review it. You always need to review old material.

Spaced repetition.

Start incorporating this into your study plan and see if it pays off.

Notes:

• I am doing FREE CPA Exam coaching to help people organize their study plans and figure out exactly what they need to do to become a CPA. If you’re interested email me or message me on social media :)