Students tend to see the final exams as an unnecessary evil enacted by unsympathetic teachers to place ungodly pressure on undeserving high school students. However, the final exams serve a real purpose.

First of all, students must understand that most learning within the high school years is not foundational learning. It is the application of ideas and concepts already learned and building upon that foundation. It is the hope of every educator students are not just memorizing and performing skills for the short term, but they are understanding ideas and concepts in new ways.

With this in mind, the final exam requirement communicates to students that true learning is not forgotten, but goes into long-term memory. So, high school teachers create comprehensive tests to assess the progress of students at the end of every semester as a way of seeing what ideas and concepts truly took root. After all, the goal is not to just earn the course credit; it is to learn something that you will carry with you beyond the classroom to use, apply, and develop later in life.

The final exam requirement also prepares students for post-secondary education. While a few students may grumble that they do not intend to go to college, the reality is they will likely face some kind of educational program whether it be a trade license or a formal degree.

Therefore, educators must prepare students for the reality of those real-life exams. Most every job is cyclic in that it has stretches of time which are extremely busy and pressure-filled followed by a period of time where there are fewer demands and less pressure.

The final exam requirement also serves as encouragement to do well throughout the semesters. Shocking, but true–statistics show that a high number of teenagers procrastinate. Knowing that a comprehensive exam is going to be given in every class, and you have the opportunity to exempt two of them if you earn an