Students prepare for first semester finals
Senior Brenda Lopez does her history review sheet for finals.
December 13, 2013
Every student has different techniques on how to study for finals. Finals are tests that teachers give to their students at the end of each semester to see what their students have learned.
Finals are on Dec. 18-20. First and second period finals are on Wednesday. Third and fourth period finals are on Thursday. Fifth and sixth period finals are on Friday. Every final day is an early release at 12:30 p.m.
Senior Erika Serrato thinks she knows why students stress out about finals.
“I think people stress out about finals because it is worth such a big part of your grade,” Serrato said. “Students just want a good grade for the semester.”
Some students at Tracy High have a different input about finals.
Junior Jonathan Fox thinks finals are pretty easy.
“As long as you paid attention in your classes, the final should be pretty easy for people,” Fox said.
For some finals, students do not have to review a lot for depending on how good are you in that subject. Fox does not usually study for finals, but the only class that he might have to review a little bit for is his History of the Americas I class.
“I have to review some information for my history class,” Fox said. “For that class, our final is and essay that I have to prepare for.”
There are many study techniques that students use to study for this test that can be worth anywhere from 20-30 percent of your grade. Junior Nicholas Tobeck has his own way of studying for finals.
“I usually study off the study guide that our teachers give to us the week before finals start,” Tobeck said, “I will study for an hour a night on a different subject, and I usually try to look over my notes that I have taken in the passed curriculum.”
Teachers at our school believe that finals is a great test for their students to see if they learned a lot from their classes. Science teacher Jon Waggle has some tips on how his students should study for his class.
“They should always start off by looking over vocabulary words that I have gone over in my lectures,” Waggle said. “Students should also go over their study guide that us teachers provide for them.”
Another way to study for finals is getting together with a study group. Math teacher Maria Bassett thinks that study groups are a great way to earn the grade you want.
“Study groups give students a chance to teach other people the knowledge that they know,” Bassett said. “It also gives other students to teach you more information.”
Basset also explained that studying for a math final is different from the other subjects in our curriculum.
“The best way to study for a math final is to practice the chapter summaries,” Bassett said. “The textbook is the resource of the course.”
English teacher Bond Cashmere thinks that finals is a great thing for students.
“It is a great opportunity to show what the students have learned during the semester,” Cashmere said.
One thing that students look forward to is that winter break starts once finals are done. Winter break is from Dec. 21 to Jan 5.
