Tag: finals

School

godgoldngloryLeave a comment

I am not sure if I have ever been as stressed about school as I am now. The combination of APs and finals is going to kill me in about a week if I do not start feeling better about any of it. My first AP test is next Friday, followed by three more next week, two of which happen to be on the same day. Following that, there is a single week until finals, which makes me want to die. Half of my AP teachers don’t even care that we just took the AP exam and are still going to give out final exams for the class. I want to take extra time to put in extra review for my exams coming up, but I am just so burnt out from all of the regular work my classes are assigning that I do not physically have time to do that if I want to maintain a decent status of my mental well-being. I miss being a freshman. I miss my biggest concern being my humanities reading journals. I miss barely studying for tests and still receiving good grades. Now, school is just about tough exams and how that affects college, which only puts millions of tons of pressure on the students. It’s all so stupid and annoying.

7,560 Stressed Student Cartoon Images, Stock Photos, 3D objects, & Vectors | Shutterstock

PC: https://www.shutterstock.com/shutterstock/photos/594637391/display_1500/stock-vector-worried-upset-teen-student-on-exam-education-and-study-vector-concept-594637391.jpg

Finals

uwucutiepatootieLeave a comment

I am terrified by the finals that I need to take next week. All year I’ve been talking about how I was going to make an academic comeback but instead, my grades just keep on dropping. This semester, my grades were pretty average and not too bad but I know that all of my grades will drop so far down once I take my finals. In English and ap world, I’m not too nervous because I understand what is happening. I am better at just keeping a summary of what we are doing. In chemistry and in Algebra II, I have no clue what is going on. There is way too much to memorize and since the first week of school, I have given up on these two subjects. Whenever I fail a test, which is a lot, I am always able to help myself by doing corrections. Unfortunately, there are no corrections for finals. I need to get lucky and hope that everyone in my class fails their exams so the grade can have the most insane curve.

“School Books” by Krzysztof%20Puszczy%u0144ski/ CC0 1.0

Finals Rant

godgoldngloryLeave a comment

With finals approaching, I thought it was only fitting to write another rant discussing my thoughts on finals. First off, I don’t enjoy how much emphasis schools put on them. Finals are meant to be a test of how much knowledge you have acquired during the semester or school year. However, what if someone was able to learn a very good amount of stuff and is proficient in the skills taught in the class but is not necessarily a good test taker. Because many teachers stress the final so much, that student is probably going to be a worse test taker when it comes to something as big as a final. And, even if the student has a high grade in the class because they are proficient in the class and understand the concepts, since they are such a bad test taker, their grade could plummet to a number that doesn’t represent their true understanding of the class. This can be true especially because some teachers make the final such a significant portion of the grade overall.

If I were to provide a solution for this issue, I would recommend the teacher to provide different methods for students to prove their understanding of the course. They could do a traditional written test, or maybe a presentation of some sorts. The means of displaying comprehension could vary in general based on the class, but I feel this would be a more fair way to test the student’s knowledge without completely erasing the finals system, as I do think it is important to some degree. Another thing is making the final count for no more than 25% of the grade. Finals that range from 30% and up are solely testing the student on how good of a test taker they are. One of the more telling aspects of a grade, in my opinion, are class participation and homework grade. Both of these demonstrate not only enthusiasm and effort of a student, but also how dedicated they truly are the learning the material.

To conclude, I don’t believe the current education system is exactly fair, particularly when it comes to finals and their impact on a student’s grade. If teachers could provide more means of testing, as well as not have it count for the majority of the overall grade, many solid students would not have their grades falter due to unfair and unaccomodating methods.

5 Ways to Beat Stress During Finals - SBU News

PC: https://news.stonybrook.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/stress.jpg

AP Chemistry Exam

udarsh318Leave a comment

So the AP Chem exam is coming up. May second, which is in like a week and a half and I am beyond screwed. The exam is so impossibly hard that a 44% is passing, you get a 3 for a 44% on the exam which is just crazy. We’re gonna have our class final exam sometime next week which is right before the AP exam, and hopefully, that will prepare me for the AP. I guess in the past the final exam for the class was a pretty good indicator of how you would do on the AP exam so I guess we’ll see how I do next week. I’ve been studying so much, like every night I have FRQ’s or multiple choice questions to do. We had a 54 page slideshow to work on over spring break, which I did ok on but that’s not a very good indicator of the AP exam. Now we have like 8 FRQ’s due on Monday and some of these FRQ’s have like 9 parts (a,b,c,d,e, etc) which is just a crazy amount of questions.

AP Chem Exam Review - PTHS AP CHEMISTRY
Photo Credit- PTHS AP Chemistry https://pthsapchem.weebly.com/ap-chem-exam-review.html

30 things

localdreamerwithapenLeave a comment

Finals week starts tomorrow, and I already know it’s gonna be extremely mentally exhausting. So, here is a list of unimportant things that make me feel better/calm down:

  1. the smell of the ground after rain
  2. running your hand across smooth wood
  3. fingers sliding down guitar strings
  4. watching the sun set through the leaves of a tree
  5. cat purrs
  6. freshly washed sheets
  7. pressing flowers in a heavy book
  8. braiding your hair
  9. the smell of saddle soap
  10. watching horses eat
  11. drawing in black pen
  12. painting your nails
  13. the sound of shoes crunching in the sand
  14. the sound of shoes crunching in the snow (though this seems pretty unlikely to happen anytime soon)
  15. opening a new pack of gum
  16. watching vines that butter my croissants
  17. walking barefoot through wet grass
  18. a dog’s cold nose
  19. when a dog high fives you
  20. dogs
  21. biting into an apple
  22. cutting a piece of paper perfectly straight
  23. matching your outfit with your shoes
  24. opening a textbook to the exact page you needed to open to
  25. closing all the tabs after finishing a research paper
  26. twinkle lights
  27. the shadows of trees moving in the wind
  28. putting on eyeliner in one single motion
  29. listening to the rain and flume
  30. a good hug

via chaifeed.me

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Two-Week Notice

paris22Leave a comment

Since there are only about two weeks left of school (to be exact, as of Friday the 19th, there are 336 hours left), I’m feeling a lot of emotions: stress for finals, excitement for summer, and envy of the seniors, for they don’t have to come back in September. Luckily, everyone is now handing in their “two-week notice” for summer. Told in gifs, these are the emotions that will occur during my two-week notice, and let’s hope I was right for not putting in a crying gif.

My current mood, preparing for finals:

GIF Credit: Giphy

While I’m taking a final:

GIF Credit: Imgur

When I know the answer to one of the questions:

GIF Credit: Giphy

When people ask how the test went and want to talk about the answers:

GIF Credit: Giphy

Once finals are over:

GIF Credit: Giphy

The last day of school:

GIF Credit: Good Reads

Now go forth! And good luck to everyone approaching finals week.

April Showers…and Finals

paris22Leave a comment

Photo Credit: Sizzle

As California transitions into spring, the “April Showers” have been few and far between. However, there has been a recent shower of finals and exams. Because APs are soon to be upon us, teachers have been giving us our typical end of the year finals now, rather than later, to prepare us for the AP.

That’s all well and good, but after finals we still learn things, and some classes have a second final during finals week, along with the AP in May. And, I’m pretty certain almost every student at this point is 97% done, I know I am. This is the point of the year when projects, essays, research papers, tests, and reviews are piled on, with the thought in the back of your mind that finals are in a month and a half, and (in my case) you literally have no idea what’s going on in half of your classes.

T-minus 45 days until summer.

Finals got you down?

stayhappy1231 Comment

Here are ten ways to cope with your impending doom!

1.) Dig a hole. I mean, a really deep hole. Once you have dug said hole, lay in it. I’m not telling you to die there or anything, that’s entirely optional. If you need some motivation, think about your math final, and how you have literally never taken any notes at all.

(Click here for more info. on digging a proper grave.)

2.) Scream really, really loudly. Freak out your neighbors. Go ahead. You know you hate them. Do you even know their names? Of course not.

3.) Lay on the floor for a little bit and relive every embarrassing thing you’ve ever done. Come on. You know you want to. (At least more than you want to worry about finals.)

4.) Take a shower and maybe lay on the floor for a little bit. Might as well.

5.) Draw a chalk box on the concrete and sit in it. Everything around you is lava, except what’s inside that box. Don’t believe me? Your finals are located outside of that box.

6.) Get in a fight with someone who cares about you. It will 100% take away all focus from your finals. Unless you are really underprepared, like yours truly, in which case there is no hope.

7.) Go for a run. Plan to run to the nearby Starbucks. Run further. Run too far. Run way too far. Let the sun set, go somewhere creepy, and wait to be kidnapped. Foolproof. You think being kidnapped is too scary? FINALS.

8.) Do you have any allergies? Now is the time to thank whatever forces blessed you with them. Allergic to cats? Go lick one. Hug it. Rub it on your face. Peanut butter? Really dig into a nice jar of Jif and thank me later.

9.) Find a trustworthy friend, and kindly ask them to push you down some stairs.  If they are skeptical, here is a note from a trustworthy source (me) on why this is a good idea:

Dear friend, don’t hold back. It’s for their own good. Don’t believe me? Check their notes. Yes, that is a sketch of Justin Bieber pre-Gomez. No, there are no notes on the Aeneid in there. Keep looking, I promise.

10.) Or you could, like, study or something.

F.I.N.A.L.S.
Photo credit: memegenerator.net

It’s Almost Over

happyrose15Leave a comment

I can almost see the finish line

We are so close to summer, the only thing in the way is…finals. *hiss*

Now I am sure that you are sick and tired of hearing high schoolers complain about how long the year is and how we are so excited for summer, but this year has felt like torture

As I approach finals my stress levels, which have been at a pretty steady 8/10 throughout the year, have escalated to 11/10 the past week and I don’t see this changing in the near future.On Friday, we have math

Math, I hate you.

That’s all I have to say about this satanic subject

On Saturday is history

I already took this final ahead of time, thank goodness

On Sunday, I get a break

In reality, I don’t count it as a break because I will probably have my head buried in books trying to not fail my next final

On Monday, its English

Oh English

I actually really enjoy English but not today…not today

On Tuesday, its Spanish

No me gusta…at all

The final exam…Wednesday, Science

I’ve basically given up on this one

With a full week ahead of me I ask for your prayers.

Finals

paris22Leave a comment

Photo Credit: theodysseyonline.com

English. Math. Language. History. Science.

These are just the core subjects on which students are preparing to be tested on for the last time this year. But for some students, the list goes past these 5. Or they might be taking the AP classes of them, and are preparing for the AP tests kicking off on Monday. Our teachers, parents, elders, siblings, etc. reiterate the same “comforting” words of wisdom: don’t worry.

How are we not supposed to worry when some of these tests affect up to 50% of our grade? How are we not supposed to worry if we  end up getting poor grades and are punished for it. Or the fact that colleges and universities will be looking at these grades and our GPA’s, two things that are heavily affected by these finals.

They tell us not to worry, not to stress, get plenty of sleep, and relax during finals week but when it comes down to it most of the people telling students these things will be disappointed when we don’t reach their expectations.

And the stress keeps piling up as we move up the ranks in high school. During finals, 10th graders wish to have it as easy as 9th graders, 11th graders feel this way about 10th graders, and I’m guessing 12th graders just want to leave high school.