Whether or not students should be able to keep their tests after they’ve been graded is a somewhat controversial subject. Teachers often pass back graded tests with comments and markings and promptly take them back, but students would benefit from these corrections if they could keep their tests and study their mistakes. Subjects such as math and physics are especially difficult for some students, so those who struggle with them may benefit from keeping their tests. Some students a re slow learners and need an extended amount of time to review their tests outside of the time already provided in class. Of course, they could always do homework to practice the material, or see the teacher during office hours, but there are times when this isn’t enough, and it would be more helpful for the student to keep their test and study it during their own time.
This further demonstrates why students should be able to keep graded tests, as comments from the teacher could really help students expand their knowledge and do better on future tests.
Some may argue that teachers shouldn’t have to give graded tests back to students for the purpose of keeping records, which helps teachers keep track of students’ test scores and if they got the grade that they deserve.
They may also claim that if a student lost points on a question that they think was graded incorrectly, the time that they get in class to review their tests should be enough for them to ask questions. This would lead to either the teacher realizing that they made a mistake, or the student understanding why they lost points.
Additionally, another argument is that if students kept the tests, they could share
the test answers with other students. However, such actions are cheating, and both the new student and the student, or students, who shared the test answers would be disciplined.
Even if teachers needed to keep records, there aren’t many instances in which they actually look at the tests after they are graded. After students are finished looking at them, the tests are usually stored away in a folder, and teachers never look at them again. This proves that, other than keeping records, teachers don’t really have any uses for graded tests.
For students, however, the tests would not only have uses, but also benefits. Also, asking questions about the test would definitely help, but this argument circles back to the fact that some students are slow learners, or are better at processing information in a different environment. While some students may benefit from learning in a classroom environment, others may need to be located in other more peaceful environments such as their bedroom, where there are less distractions and they can review their graded tests on their own time.
Lastly, students sharing test answers is possible, but it is not likely that they will benefit from it, as teachers give different tests each time. Each student or class period getting different tests doesn’t affect the students’ individual abilities to learn from their mistakes, providing another reason for students to keep their graded tests.