Grande Finale

Ah, the end-of-the-year rush to get everything done and in order has come. For some, it is a time of panic and cramming, while for others it is business as usual and passes by smoothly. Personally, I find that the end of a semester is a good opportunity to practice one’s professionalism in college. By this, I mean that a student can use this hectic period as a test to see how they perform under strict timeframes with high pressure. In this class, as I type, I’m sure most of the students are working on putting together their portfolio. The pressure placed upon their shoulders to improve their writing is larger than ever before in this class. Success on this assignment is great proof that they can make the most of themselves during hectic times. However, it is my opinion that polishing up past works and closing them with a final essay is quite less work than a difficult final exam. If the pieces are good to begin with, then it would not be too tough to make them more perfect. On the other hand, the studying needed for a final does not usually consider prior experiences in the class; you have to prepare for the now no matter how well the class had been thus far. I also believe that portfolios give a student more control over the results, since studying cannot cover all possible questions in the same amount. For portfolios, the student decides the end result for themselves. I consider myself lucky, perhaps, that I have a portfolio to compose rather than a thirty page exam to brace for.