A Guide to High School Exit Exams

An evaluation which students have to excel at, or at least get a satisfactory score in, to either pass a course, scale from one grade level to the next, or get a certified diploma. Sometimes, exit exams are heavily standardized, such as the high school exit exams. Other times, particularly in the college setting, exit exams might be composed by teachers and made for students studying in a specific area. In some instances, a college might require that all students, who plan to graduate and earn a bachelor’s degree, take its exit exam. Sometimes, colleges test written proficiency one or two years before students graduate. If they’re unsuccessful in the test, they might need to take one or two developmental courses to enhance their writing skills.

Additionally, trade and professional schools might require students to take exit exams, particularly if they offer certification. Students might need to pass those tests before getting certification or licensure in a given subject.

Primarily, exit exams are a way of helping students who might not be fully prepared to graduate college or high school, pass a class, or work in their preferred fields. Many of those are non-specific and general tests that only look for writing skills and basic math skills. Unless those areas are problematic for a student, they might not need to study extensively for those generalized knowledge tests. However, exit exams that assess skills in a particular field can require lots of studies because they’re often highly specific and require substantial knowledge of the field.

High school exit exams are used by many states as a means of maintaining graduation standards across public high schools. On a school-by-school basis, these exams inform the quality of education at various high schools. However, there’re lots of changes going on with these exams. While many states have eliminated their exit exam requirements, some others are moving toward making them more challenging.

States that have high school exit exams might administer them earlier or later, depending on their assessment systems. As these exams aren’t very demanding ones, students, who’ve been performing well in high school, shouldn’t worry much about them. Different states have different approaches for students who don’t clear high school exit exams with the required passing score. In most states, developmental instruction is offered to these students along with retesting opportunities. Developmental classes might be held in the summer or during the school day.