Freshmen, sophomores and juniors will conclude the school year with finals week from May 20 to May 22.
Many MSHS students and teachers prepare for finals differently during midterms and finals week; however, most agree that it is beneficial to study for tests and projects, whether it be looking over notes or even preparing flash cards.
AJ Jackson (12) believes studying is important depending on the class and subject. When she has studied, she has found using flashcards and looking over notes to be helpful.
“I think it’s helped a lot,” Jackson said. “I’m more sure and confident about what I do now.”
Jackson feels her relationship with studying for finals has changed throughout high school, especially compared to when she was a freshman.
“In general, I felt more inclined to study this year because it’s very important that I pass,” Jackson said. “It was super important the other years, but it didn’t feel pressing. I didn’t feel like I gave it as much.”
Jackson has found that her finals, for the most part, consist of either tests or presentations. She says she spends more time outside of class preparing for tests than she does presentations.
“I put more of my priorities into my AP Stats final studying than I am for the French project that I’m doing,” Jackson said.
Sierra Tanner (11) also studies differently for tests than she would a presentation as her final. She often goes through her presentations with a friend in order to prepare for those types of finals, while she studies the most recent material in order to prepare for tests.
“For test tests, I just honestly go over the most recent things we’ve learned, and specifically focus on the stuff that I don’t remember the most about, or the stuff that I missed,” Tanner said.
Tanner usually dedicates time for studying the night before a big test or even the morning of the test. She recommends students make their study time more engaging by turning the material into some sort of game or working with others.
“Just take a tiny bit of extra time to put that together,” Tanner said. “It’s a lot easier to be interested and engaged in it, rather than studying a paper and memorizing it.”
One thing Tanner feels the school should change in order to support students is to utilize labs more and have more involvement within students’ struggle areas.
“Especially more towards finals, start making that a little bit of a tighter leash,” Tanner said. “If a student is missing many assignments, maybe call them down to the counselors, or get a plan set up with the teacher and make sure that they have the sources they need.”
Tanner, however, also notices how teachers support their students by being available and putting time towards helping students.
“I’ve seen teachers be very available for their students, and I’ve seen them take extra time going out of their way to help students who need that help, which is really nice,” Tanner said.
Alicia Mauer, an MSHS science teacher, provides support for her students by gamifying review and ensuring to include all of Bloom’s taxonomy in review.
“I make sure that I have different levels of cognitive practice,” Mauer said. “I will ask if students remember terms and what they mean, and then we’re going to apply it, and think critically.”
As a teacher, Mauer prepares for finals by going over content that was previously covered and designing a test based off of that information.
“The most important things that students need to go on to the next level is what I’m going to focus on in terms of review and the test,” Mauer said.
Mauer says her expectations for freshmen in comparison to seniors are different in terms of the extra support that is provided.
“I provide a lot more ways of studying,” Mauer said. “I like to give the freshmen a lot of options. So I’ll give them different types of ways of looking at the content. And then for seniors, they know well what works for them; so I’m typically giving less structure there.”
Mauer believes that studying is very important because of how it helps students prepare for college.
“I think that in high school, the whole point would be to prepare for what works for you in terms of studying so that when you go to college and when you actually need to use those skills more you can learn how to be successful at the next level,” Mauer said. “So studying is important in the sense that it can be be preparator for the next level.”
Some habits that Mauer would recommend for students to maintain throughout the school year are to maintain focus throughout class.
“If you’re consistently involved, participating, understanding, and asking questions during class, there shouldn’t be too much outside demand of you,” Mauer said. “And if you’re doing all that practice, then theoretically you will already be ready for the final.”
