<p>Faced with a moral dilemma here… I'm exempt from my chemistry final, but if I don't take it then I will get an A- in the class. If I do take it, I could either bring my grade up to an A or down to a B+. Is it worth the risk and the extra stress of studying? I really want an A…</p>
<p>Study hard and take it.</p>
<p>I’ve been in this situation a couple times. Most recently for a biology course. I had an A+ (at least 97%) going into the final, so if I didn’t take the final it would be lowered to an A- (though barely).</p>
<p>The way I figure it: if you’re in the situation where you already have an A or A+ in the course going into the final, then chances are there is no way you could “bomb” the final and actually have it be that detrimental to your grade. You could probably not even study (or barely study) and still get enough points to keep at least a solid A. I would take it.</p>
<p>I remember in a math course our lowest scored exam would be dropped from our grade, which included the final. Going into the final I had already scored an A on all the previous exams so no matter my score for that final, it was going to be dropped. I just had to actually physically be there to take the final and I would still get an A. I convinced myself that I would just write my name on the exam, breeze through the problems and then turn it in with no regard. I caved and couldn’t go through with it. I ended up trying my best on that final anyway.</p>
<p>You just never know - you might actually score better than your previous exams. This also happened to me in an astronomy course. We had 3 exams and the lowest score would be dropped from our grade (the final was counted separate and required). I scored a 96% on both the first and second exams. I went into the third thinking it wasn’t going to count for my grade and I ended up getting a 97%! I know, not really much of a difference, but it did technically bump one of my previous exams out.</p>
<p>tl;dr: Just take it. Try even just slightly and you should come up roses.</p>
<p>If you want to get an A, then study and take the final.</p>
<p>If you have an A- currently, odds are you won’t completely bomb the final, as long as you prepare for it. So you’ll likely either remain around the same grade or increase it.</p>