The SLO exam is taken in fall and spring, and is used to measure your improvement during the year. It often makes you write essays in classes that have absolutely nothing to do with writing. For example, when do you ever have to write an essay in band? Art? Never, unless of course you are taking the SLO; which is supposed to gauge your development in that class. How exactly is a writing assignment supposed to show how you improved in a class that requires playing an instrument or drawing a picture? The thing is that it really doesn’t; you could just completely refuse to take the exam in the beginning or just not try very hard, then, at the end of the year try on it a bit to show some sort of fake improvement. It would be much better to have an exam that has to do with the class. In band, why not do a solo? In art, you could draw a picture and try to redraw it at the end of the year to show your refinement in that medium.