BY THE CONCORD STAFF
With exams rearing their ugly and terrifying heads, students across Bellarmine University’s campus prepare for them with fear and nervousness. We here at The Concord will be honest: no one likes exams. Exams are something no college student looks forward to, and The Concord’s editors and writers are no different.
At their most basic level, exams show a mastery of material. Exams are necessary, as they demonstrate a understanding of the concepts learned. No one wants a doctor who does not know where the heart is,or a consultant who does not use proper grammar.
Exams covering a wide variety of subjects are important in liberal arts education, as they help display basic knowledge in a fashion that allows Bellarmine graduates to stand out against other applicants.
Exams test students’ knowledge of the material from the course, and it is hard to graduate without doing well on them.
However, exams are much more important than this rather basic display of understanding the content of the course.
The real benefit to exams is to show future employers a potential employee can buckle down and work hard on something they may not want to do. Success on exams shows those employers that a potential employee has the dedication and drive needed to pull through the difficult exam period.
Because exams are so difficult and require so much effort in studying and preparing, they require a student to grow into a full-fledged adult.
A child, when it meets something it does not want to do, refuses to do it and complains while an adult, after realizing it is important, diligently gets it done.
Students’ not liking exams only makes exams more important as it becomes an even better show of the students’ maturity.
Exams also requires the drive and dedication to study and to work in a environment filled with distractions.
College, for most students, is the first time they are expected to choose what they want to do.
In college, students are treated like adults and are expected to make life-altering choices about what they choose to do. No one likes exams.
During that long, painful week, no one stays up late, waiting hopefully for the exam to arrive. Everyone dreads the coming of exam week and the late nights with the impressive coffee consumption the feared week brings.
The important thing this week is not to complain and not to get distracted but to view exams as ways to show growth over the semester.
Exams, while difficult, are an opportunity to excel and display dedication and drive, both on these exams and the harder problems in the future. The Concord staff is rooting for all Bellarmine students.