School years and semesters end with final exams which are cumulative tests which assess a student’s command of the material taught. These sorts of tests are not in favor at the moment. I have had colleagues say they never took an exam in college, that their final assessments were independent projects or collaborative presentations. I have heard about how these tests are unfair for certain types of students who learn differently.

I disagree — with respect — but disagree vehemently.

I see the points being made, but I also see the value in the two hour time period when a student must sit down and all by herself formulate and shape what she has learned into coherent pieces of argument and logic.

Many times when grading exams, I have been surprised and astonished by the insights students express as they write an essay about ambition and its lessons as demonstrated in Macbeth and Frankenstein. Or when I am reading essays asking students to explore how what a character sacrifices shapes that character’s spirit and defines that character’s ideals. There are beautiful moments when students spring out of their usual mode of thought or their expected writing and reach for a concept which is original, unique, startling, and inspirational. And this mental spring, this leap of intuition, this flash of brilliance I have seen happen in even the so-called weaker students.

I believe in the sacred space of the exam. It is a time and place set apart for the academic agon. Some students do suffer defeat, but others emerge victorious and amazed at their own intellectual capacity.

Long live exams!