With a new semester on the horizon, students are looking forward to spring sports, tradition week, and somewhere off in the distance, a long-awaited summer. But before all that they have to get through one of the most dreaded times of the school year: finals week.
With students rushing to complete assignments and cram months worth of material into a two week period and teachers trying to get all the grades into Skyward as well as having to squeeze in one more unit, everyone is frantic. As soon as they come back from Christmas break they have just three weeks until they have to regurgitate everything they have learned this semester as well as complete what seems to be endless projects and essays.
Finals week at Blanchet will be happening from Tuesday the 21st through Friday the 24th. Monday the 20th school is not in session, so this is a great day to start crossing stuff off your to-do list and start studying. On Tuesday they have 1st and 2nd period finals. On Wednesday they have 3rd and 4th period finals. Thursday they have 5th and 7th period. Friday they have 8th period and 0 period, if you don’t have a 0 period class, then your final won’t start until 9:40. Every final exam period will be 80 minutes with a 20 minute passing period/break in between.
Blanchet has many resources available to help you prepare. The National Honor Society is running a tutoring lab every late start morning from now until finals, this is a great way to get some structured help from your peers in specific subjects. During finals week teachers will be offering office hours for you to drop in and get help with a section or ask a question. The library is a good quiet place to study or relax and the library database is available to assist with research for essays or projects.
Different teachers and subjects will have differently formatted exams. You’re not likely to get an entirely multiple choice test for a math class, certain teachers may have essay questions and a true or false section, and for an English class you might have just an in-class essay. Asking your teacher what format you can expect on the final is very important, then you know how you should study the material.
When studying for finals, all nighters and energy drinks reign supreme and dark under eye circles are worn as badges of honor. The mindset seems to be that the less sleep you get, the more work you put in to studying the material, but that is not always true.
Several studies from universities in Belgium show that sleep is directly connected to test scores, students who slept for at least seven hours a night had more than a ten percent score increase than students who did not. While almost everyone knows this to be true, there still is a culture of all nighters and studying until the early hours of the morning. This finals week, try to put an emphasis on going to sleep at a reasonable hour and getting enough rest. You will most likely see a difference in test scores.
Cramming can seem like the best possible option to retain a bunch of information in a short period of time. However research shows that cramming is not an effective option, a study done by UCSD found that when students repeatedly read their notes the night before an exam it leads to short-term memorization but long-term rapid forgetting.
Many studies show that retention is improved by short study sessions over a two week period. So based on that, you should start reviewing material the week you get back from Christmas break which might seem impossible but if you just do a little bit everyday it will benefit you more than cramming in the long run.
Before finals week even starts you should have a set study tool or strategy. One method is flashcards, actual paper flashcards not a Quizlet that helps some the most. Redo tests and worksheets for math classes, and teach someone else the material from some subjects to make sure you are understanding the material, not just memorizing it. If you have a set strategy for specific classes, you will be prepared and ready to study. “ I try to rewrite my notes from memory”, said junior Kylie Dominguez. “I also use a color coding system that helps me organize the material.”
If you have a class where you need to memorize a list of things or steps in a certain order, a mnemonic device like a rhyme or acronym can help you recall the information, such as “please excuse my dear aunt sally” to help remember the order of operations. You can search for some good ones, but it will help you more if you create your own.
Eating a good breakfast is often overlooked as something your mom would tell you. Most people don’t eat breakfast on a normal day, why would they take the time to during the craziness of finals week?
Many studies show that a high-quality breakfast containing both carbohydrates and protein can help your memory as well as your concentration skills. These studies show that kids who eat breakfast will have better test scores and mental ability.
Not eating breakfast can lead to lower math scores especially. The night before it is helpful to take a study break and make a smoothie or set aside a granola bar. It might also give you more motivation to eat breakfast if you plan to take yourself and to get Starbucks before school.
Staying organized during this time is very important. You most likely have multiple due dates to keep track of as well as a long list of tasks so it will be helpful to make a master to do list for every class. It might seem like a better idea to just bury your head in the sand because of how overwhelmed you feel but seeing everything written out will give you the motivation to get started and the satisfying feeling of crossing things off the list will give you the motivation to complete things.