The 10 Most Creative Final Exams Ever Offered

Ah, finals. A monotonous, stressful rite of passage for high school and college students around the world. Controversies regarding their ultimate efficacy have resulted in schools as notable as Harvard purging final exams from the curriculum altogether. But educators still need a way to ensure the material sinks into their pupils’ brains, and the more innovative ones out there have whipped up some viable alternatives. Many prove far more applicable to the syllabus than a mere test, making it far easier for students to visualize exactly how everything works. Check out some of the following when searching for inspiration about creative ways to wrap everything up without lessons unsticking.

1. Allowing students to whip up their own final exams

   University of Texas at El Paso’s Robert M. Esch and Mimi Reisel Gladstein published quite an interesting article in the September 1975 issue of College English. They proposed the elimination of the traditional final exam structure in favor of something far more autonomous: letting students organize their own. With the right course, such a plan would allow them to show off exactly what they’ve learned that semester in the manner most befitting their unique learning styles.
   

2. Advanced Newsweek

   Journalism students at University of Gloucestershire spend their last week of class applying their lessons to real-world problems rather than rehashing them out through essays and exams. Advanced Newsweek challenges them to operate their very own news conglomerate, with online, television, and radio branches — and all the stressors that entails. One can easily see how this final exam alternative benefits soon-to-be graduates in the long run!
   

3. Service learning

   Spanish students under Lebanon Valley College professor Kathleen Tacelosky partnered up with local elementary school kids (some of them around 6 years old) who speak it as a primary language for a unique final exam blending in mutually beneficial service learning. Participants from both linguistic traditions assisted one another in correcting accent and grammar issues in addition to teaching them some brand new vocabulary words. Once the educational experienced wrapped up, the college crowd formally presented a summary of what they learned from the eager youngsters from Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
   

4. The Great Cardboard Boat Regatta

   Funny enough, a final exam of all things wound up spawning a widely beloved event drawing thousands of participants and even more viewers. Southern Illinois University art and design professor Richard Archer thought he’d challenge his students to prove their mettle in 3D with a practical, but super fun, wrap-up project. The Great Cardboard Boat Regatta asked them to design and race, well, cardboard boats. And ONLY cardboard boats! Entries also had to be large enough to fit human passengers. Archer’s brainchild proved so wildly popular, non-students began trying their hand at his test, and the idea quickly spread to different states.
   

5. Climate Showcase

   In an effort to encourage sustainability in the community without financially overburdening Baltimore’s nonprofits, Johns Hopkins puts its environmental engineering students to work. Climate Showcase requires them to perform free assessments and inspections on these organization’s energy efficiency, and they have to visit two a week before releasing their findings. The charities benefit from the gratis advice — which saves them money in the long run — and the students learn firsthand how their lessons apply to everyday life.
   
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