School boards across Alberta will ask the province to ease the pressure on Grade 12 students by reducing the weight given diploma exams towards final marks from 50 per cent to 30.

School boards agreed to make the request at a meeting of the Alberta School Boards Association Monday.

"We've changed the way we deliver education in this province," said Helen Clease, president of the Alberta School Boards Association.

"That exam maybe made sense back then in terms of having a multiple choice exam because was a lot of rote learning going on. We have a lot more critical thinking going on our classrooms (now)."

The debate is now up to the minister of education, said John Tomkinson, a school board trustee in Leduc who introduced the motion.

“We would call on the minister to sit down and have a frank and honest discussion with all of the groups looking to a reduction of the weighting of diploma examinations,” he said.

Students say the heavy weighting disregards the work they do all year in class.

Teachers have been demanding the change for years. Diploma exams have counted for 50 per cent of a student's final grade in Alberta for three decades.