Starring Cecile Bagdadi and Joel S. Rice, the plot follows a nameless killer stalking the remaining group of students left on a college campus days before the beginning of summer vacation.

Meanwhile, the murderer responsible for the March College killings arrives on campus in a van and begins stalking the remaining students.

Bookish Courtney is studying hard for her exams, while her wealthy roommate Lisa is preparing to leave for her home in New York City.

Another Gamma member, Wildman, is lured into a darkened gymnasium while attempting to steal prescription drugs from the football coach's office.

Another student named Mark discovers Wildman's body and is subsequently chased by the murderer into the school's electrical building.

Nerdy student Radish discovers the carnage and calls the police, but they dismiss him due to the aforementioned pranks.

Todd Gilchrist of IGN notes elements of homoeroticism in the film, particularly its depiction of hazing rituals among the fraternity: "What's problematic about this kind of idiosyncratic behavior isn't that it's homoerotic, but that it doesn't mean anything in the movie and never connects to anything else that happens... Nerds, jocks, and nubile co-eds are all integral parts of the slasher-movie mythos, but none of those character types are used to any effect other than expanding the body count once the killings actually begin".

[4] The film's lead, Cecile Bagdadi, was cast after she was seen performing in a production of Faces on the Wall at the Coronet Theatre in Los Angeles.

[8] Final Exam received a limited regional release on February 27, 1981, screening in St. Louis, Missouri[9] and Dayton, Ohio.

It's a polished, professional effort that bellies its $363,000 budget, although a couple of hand-held camera shots at the film's finale might have heightened its impact".

Linda Gross of The Los Angeles Times gave the film a middling review, noting that it "vacillate[s] between the college-prank humor of an Animal House and a killer-thriller like Prom Night".

[14] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune deemed the film a "rip-off" of Halloween (1978), characterized by "standard stalking-shots as the camera rolls in on the girls as they cower in terror in hallways and classrooms".

[16] The Baltimore Evening Sun's Lou Cedrone panned the film, writing: "The script never explains who the murderer is or why he's doing the killing...

[18] The film has received a modern reevaluation by critics for the arbitrary villain and its focus on character development rather than gore and shock value.

[21] In Legacy of Blood: A Comprehensive Guide to Slasher Movies, film scholar Jim Harper notes that the film takes "the autonomous face of the slasher movie killer to the extreme: the man terrorizing the teenagers is shown on screen, but he has no name, no connection to his victims, no history is ever given, nor any motive.