Teachers set aside time to help students review for finals
Juniors Emma Kob, Molly Brown, and Amelia Estes participate in a Kahoot quiz before their physics class. The Kahoot reviewed topics they had gone over earlier in the semester as a refresher.
December 12, 2017
WEB EXCLUSIVE As the semester comes to a close, students have begun studying for finals with the support of their teachers.
“It’s been pretty nice to have a few days to review with study guides and worksheets,” freshman Ella Holliday said. “Some teachers have even given us practice quizzes to prepare for finals, like how [math teacher] Mr. Harvey gave us some possible questions for our final.”
This year teachers were asked to not teach any new material on the last three days leading up to finals week and to utilize class time as review periods.
“We’ve had a lot of review sessions in my classes,” senior Sarah Mahnke-Baum said. “[English teacher] Mr. Botti makes us do an in-class essay every week, so I feel like that prepared us for the final in-class essay.”
Some teachers used their review periods to create practice finals, while others allowed students to take the time to redo missing assignments and ask questions.
“I try to give 2-3 practice finals as well as a study guide,” physics teacher Riaz Abdulla said. “We’ll go over them in class, and [I] have YouTube videos and PDF’s so students will have a lot of resources.”
Having review days is beneficial in allowing students to realize they’re being supported by their teachers and to take the pressure off of them, according to Abdulla.
“We know that there comes a point when you just get completely preoccupied with finals,” Abdulla said. “It happens even when you’re trying to be an active learner in class, so I think having review time is valuable to the edge of finals.”
Popular ways of reviewing for finals have been creating Quizlets or studying in groups, according to students.
“I made a study guide with a friend, and I usually ask people if they have a study guide or a Quizlet I can use,” Holliday said. “It’s pretty much a group effort [to study].”
Finals are a way of both summarizing what students have learned from a class, as well as preparing them for future exams in college, according to Abdulla.
“Whether we like it or not, many of us are teaching students who want to be a lawyer or a doctor, which requires them to take culminating exams,” Abdulla said. “That practice of getting ready to sit for exams like those starts in high school.”
Final assessments for classes will start on Thursday with E and F classes, A and B on Friday, G and H on Monday and C and D on Tuesday.
