Photo Courtesy of Jeff Linden
Statistics agree that preparing and studying for exams is beneficial.
According to Stanford News, “Blind effort alone, without directing that effort in an effective manner, doesn’t always get you to where you want to go,” one of Stanford’s Department of Psychology researchers, Praticia Chen said.
Some students believe that studying doesn’t help grades or has no overall benefit. However, scientific studies have shown that studying for finals, or just tests in general, affects the end grade positively. Sophomore Kaiper Kaiser, junior Katie Drake, and senior Mary Howie all agree that preparing for finals helps in a beneficial way.
“Study for the classes you know you struggle in. I think it’s important to study for the tough semester finals you have because it shows how much you retained over the semester,” Howie said.
Teachers suggest that students study not just the day before tests, but to study for them over multiple days to retain the information. How long one needs to study is based on how long it takes for that particular student to feel like they have soaked in all the information. Drake likes to break up her studying into sections. She will study for the finals she has the next day, and will continue that pattern for the rest of the tests. She estimated that she spends about three to five hours in total studying for all her finals. Kaiser on the daily throughout December spends about 45 minutes per day throughout December studying for her finals after practice. Howie studies off and on. In total she studies for about three hours.
“I study most days after practice. I usually study for 30 minutes but as finals get closer I start studying around 45 to 50 minutes,” sophomore Kaiser said.
There are multiple different ways to study, but there are techniques that are more prominent than others, from making note cards to even creating a Quizlet or using premade ones. Some students enjoy studying while others don’t study at all. Drake usually reviews the teacher’s handouts and studies important Quizlets the teacher provides. Kaiser doesn’t have a favorite way to study, but she mainly reviews her notes taken in class. Howie also likes to review her notes from her classes and use the Quizlets as Drake does.
“I don’t have a study schedule, but I typically do any reviews the teachers hand out, along with any Quizlets that might be important,” Drake said.
This year, there have been many new changes. Along with those have been the finals schedule. Last year, the finals were over a four-day span, with only two finals a day. Now, finals will be over three days, with three tests a day. Also, there will be a late start, starting at 9:35 and early out, ending at 2:45 to try and allow students to get any extra help from teachers if needed, as well as if any students need to make up any tests they may have missed.
“It’s way better than all the other schedules. There was no need for us to sit in classes and to not do anything beneficial. So I’m glad we can come to school, take our finals, and just leave after. This new schedule is way more time-efficient,” Howie said.
Taking finals for the first time can be stressful, but the upperclassmen who have been through it more than once have some advice on how to handle finals. Drake advises freshmen to not stress too much because the finals are just a summary of everything they have learned during the semester. Howie encourages others to study for the finals even if they think that finals are unnecessary and that it is important to find ways to study that work for them. Lastly, Kaiser advises not to procrastinate studying so students don’t have to stay up until midnight the night before the final studying and lose valuable rest time.
“My advice for underclassmen would be not to stress about it… If you did the work during the semester you’ll be fine… Finals have a lot of hype around them, but they aren’t that hard… If you need help the teachers are here to help and provide extra practice if you need it,” Drake said.
