Tests are worth 50 percent of your grade. Classwork is worth 30 percent of your grade. Homework is only worth 20 percent of your grade. Why do tests matter so much? Are they an accurate depiction of your capabilities? How many times have you tried to raise your grade, but can’t get the points needed in the product section? The practice, process, and product formatting for grading harms more students then it helps.
Lumen Learning says, “Roughly 16–20 percent of students have high test anxiety.” This anxiety often interferes with a student’s ability to focus during a test and accurately answer questions.
“Highly test-anxious students score about 12 percentile points below their low-anxiety peers. Students with test anxiety also have higher overall dropout rates.” By making tests have a larger weight in the gradebook, these students are at a higher risk of failing. The practice, process, and product system puts these students at risk of failing their class. Students spend their time in class learning the content and do well on projects and homework assignments but when test time comes around, these students are left floundering. By making tests have a larger weight in the gradebook, these students are at a higher risk of failing.
But this struggle against the pressure of tests extends beyond the end of class time. “Test anxiety can negatively affect a student’s social, emotional, and behavioral development, as well feelings about themselves and school,” Lumen Learning reports. The system is only causing harm to students. By placing a higher level of importance on tests, students are left to their panic.
“For some people, the high pressure of test anxiety can result in frightening experiences commonly referred to as panic attacks. During this response, the body releases that dreaded hormone called adrenaline – bringing with it rapid breathing, rapid heartbeat, intense fear, and excessive sweating,” American Public University announces. Students are feeling anxieties that won’t allow them to perform accurately on tests, which can cause kids to fail their classes.
By getting rid of practice, process, and product, students have a higher chance at passing their classes. While tests may still have a higher point value than homework, the stress of failing the product category in gradebook would lessen, allowing classwork to help students bolster their grades.