Simply put, finals are final examinations, tests, in a course. They can be given at the middle school, high school, college level, and graduate level. Elementary schools can have them, although some do not. How much they matter and what you obtain from them depends on how the teacher or professor sets up the course. I will go over some of the variations.
As a teacher is setting up a course, the teacher can decide how much the final exam score will count toward a final grade. For example, the finals I give count for 15% of a student's grade. This means it is an important test, but a student could actually do poorly on a final and have enough other good grades, for quizzes, papers, participation, projects, or mid-term (half-way through the course) exams to be able to pass the course and receive credit for it. In some graduate schools, for example, in law school, there is only one exam, the final exam, and the student must pass that to pass and receive credit for that course.
Finals can be what is called "cumulative." This means that the final exam includes everything you have learned from the beginning of the course, all the way through the course. A final that is not cumulative will be one on which you are tested on just the most recent material covered, toward the end of the course. Most finals are cumulative. We want to know that the student has mastered everything from beginning to end.
Finals can come in many forms, just like any other tests taken in school. They can ask questions that require short essay answers, they can be multiple choice, or they can be true/false. Some finals are "closed book," meaning that you do not have access to your notes or your textbook. Others are "open book," meaning you do have access, usually to the textbook and your notes, to help you answer the questions. Open book finals are usually more difficult than closed book exams because the focus is on seeing how you think, rather than on what you have memorized. What kind of final a person has for a course is usually up to the individual teacher.
It is important to understand that when you take a final in a course, you pass just that course and receive your credit for it. In high school and in college, you could pass some courses and not others, and that would mean you would not get your diploma. Each school has its own requirements on how many and which courses you need to take to get a diploma.
Finals are not something to make you anxious, honestly. When you are in a course that has a final, if you do your work all along, your reading assignments, class discussions, and homework, you should be able to handle a final with no difficulty. Also, eating a good breakfast and getting a good night's sleep go a long way towards doing better on exams. It is those students who do not do their work all along, those who try to learn everything at the end by staying up all night, who are the anxious ones!
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