Forgotten Knowledge

Well, my first final is today. I studied about four hours (without moving, mind you... well, moving from the chair, that is), so I'm not too worried.

This final is for my medieval romance class, and, though it's an English course which is mainly oriented around essays and discussions, I feel that the final is justified. There's no other way for our professor to test if we've been reading or not, as essays allow you to focus on just one book, rather than all of them. I would not be surprised if a number of students in our class aren't reading the books, since it hasn't been enforced at all, but I don't really know why considering that the books are all quite enjoyable (seriously. King Arthur, anyone?). In any case, I'm sure that I have much less studying to do than many of my classmates.

This brings me to my topic for the post: finals. With a final like this, I think it's perfectly suitable to have one. You know what I have never, ever understood though? Cumulative finals for classes that already have exams.

What is the point of
Re-testing knowledge that will
Soon be forgotten?

I just do not see the point. It's pretty much the teacher's way of saying "I want to make sure you've understood the class, even though all of the tests that we've taken so far are supposed to show that. I also want to make sure that you retain the knowledge, even though you will likely forget all of it the minute you finish exam, considering that you're reviewing a semester's worth of reading over the course of a couple of days." I mean really. If you've already been tested on it, there's no need to retest it. You clearly know it, and you're clearly going to forget it- so why bother? No one can give a good answer for that question. Finals just result in more work for the professor and more work for students. And less sleep for everyone.