<p>This is son's first semester with finals - do they usually make or break students? Son is going in with pretty good grades in all subjects but one - just curious.</p>
<p>I think that would completely depend on class/professor. What’s his major?</p>
<p>Engineering</p>
<p>I also think it depends if the final is cumulative or not. I’m a bio major and we’re only being tested on the material we’ve recently learned, not since the beginning of the semester. Cumulative finals definitely means he will have to do a bit more studying.</p>
<p>Finals usually don’t “make or break you”… most of the time, if you’re doing well in a class, you’re going to do fine on the final, because you’ve been keeping up with and understanding the material the whole semester. A kid who has a B+ probably isn’t going to suddenly stop trying, forget everything he knows about the subject, and bomb the final… at worst he just won’t study much and will do mediocre, lowering to a B or so, at best he’ll really work hard and ace the final, raising to an A-.</p>
<p>Also, in my experience, finals are pretty similar to the midterms… you usually know what to expect and will study enough. I’ve definitely bombed a final and lowered a grade, I’ve also aced and brought it up. But, the majority of the time, my final grade is pretty similar to midterm grades. If all the exams are cumulative (probably, in engineering), and scheduled close together, it’ll be an intense few days (redbull!) but most students are able to buckle down and do fine.</p>
<p>Plus I’ve found that especially in the sciences, if the final is the kind of exam where you studied for three days straight but when you look at it you have no idea what any of the questions are saying- it’s curved.</p>