Woodside students are preparing themselves this week for the hardest days of the entire school year, the week of final exams.
Finals are both the best of times and the worst of times. The stress that is brought upon by the countless hours of studying is complimented by the looming presence of three weeks of freedom due to winter vacation. However, before students at Woodside can even dream about winter break they must first go through a week of preparation and four days of exams that seem to last an eternity. Despite the belief some students hold that teachers aren’t helping them by assigning piles of homework, teachers are preparing their students to the best of their abilities to be successful on not only final exams, but in life.
“My course has a cumulative final so I did ask the students to go over the course outline and revisit what they learned this semester,” Environmental science teacher Ms. Akey said. “However, the focus has got to be on active learning, however that works out best, it’s not the same for every student, but simply rereading notes or the textbook isn’t very effective so I hope that I encourage to try different things till they find something that works for them.”
Several teachers throughout the school are advising that students find alternative ways to study that could impact their final grade in a positive manner.
“Some people work really well in groups, some people do really well on their own,” US History teacher Mr. Hartford claimed. “I know the least effective way is cramming and I’ve seen a lot of that over the last couple weeks. A lot of times the most effective way of studying is just being prepared throughout the entire year.”
Preparing for finals comes down to how effectively a student studies throughout the year, evenly spreading out their time for different subjects. For AP students like Grace Newby, who takes two advanced classes, studying in a very effective manner is essential order to be successful on her harder exams.
“I think for my important subjects like math and english I spend 2 hours and then my electives I don’t spend as much time,” Grace emphasized.
Other students take a more laid back approach to preparing themselves mentally and physically for their exams.
“I prep for finals by getting enough sleep and being sure to eat breakfast,” said AP student Justin Swan.
The confidence that some students like Justin have is unusual for high school students, but students do tend to agree that due to curriculum changes this year the level of their preparedness for final exams has shot through the roof.
“I think definitely this year more than others my teachers have prepared me, but in years past we had been covering new content up until the day before finals often,” Grace added. “I think study guides are especially helpful and study sheets, which only some teachers give out especially in the maths and the sciences.”
Finals are a time filled with a mix of emotions, varying from anger, boredom, annoyance, and all the way to excitement with winter break looming in the distance. The most important thing for a student to know going into their final exams is that their teacher will prepare them to the best of their abilities and that they will always be confident in their students performance and abilities.
“I have a lot more faith in the students in my class than what they have in themselves, so I feel like there is a lot of stress going around in any of the classes; both AP and regular,” included Mr. Hartford. “I think for the most part my students, they have worked really hard this semester so far, and I’m not worried about it.”
