Finals are here once again and this time around I’m sure finals will look very different for everyone considering the crazy circumstances we’re all facing right now.
(Spoiler alert: We’ve compiled useful practice tests for you, complete with answers, from real math and science final exams from high schools all over the country. Scroll to the bottom for downloads)
Some teachers have decided to make finals cumulative and test on everything you’ve covered all year, some teachers are just giving you one last test that’s weighted like a final, and others have decided you don’t need the added stress of finals in your life right now, so they’re skipping finals this semester.
If even some of your teachers are in that last camp, we are all seriously jealous of you!
Regardless of the challenge you’re up against as you do your best to push on through to your sweet, sweet SUMMER VACATION, the formula for doing well on your finals is the same as always.
Step 1. Know your enemy.
You’ll want to know when your finals are and what they will be covering so that you can plan accordingly. You’ll also want to check your current grades to date so that way you can make informed decisions about how you want to structure your studying efforts.
If you’re like some of my students you’ll be most interested in doing the math to see what score you’d need on your final to either keep your current grade or move yourself up one letter grade. And sometimes what you’ll find is that a wide range of things could happen on the final and you’ll still end up with the same grade. For scenarios like the one I just mentioned, I would not place a high priority on studying for a class where your performance on the final is unlikely to impact your final grade in a significant way.
Step 2. Be Strategic. Make a plan!
Ok now that you know what you’re up against on the day of your final it’s time to make a plan, which really translates to scheduling out all the time you need to study for each of your exams and what you want to focus on in that time.
If you don’t necessarily know how to prioritize your studying because you’re not sure how long everything will take, I recommend creating a list of the classes you’ll need to study for the chapters or topics you’ll need to study for within those subjects and putting them into a productivity matrix and then calendar out the week, setting aside as much of your time as possible to study in larger blocks of time. I would also recommend creating subject-specific study blocks in your calendar as you get closer to each of your finals, about 2-3 days from your final in a particular class.
If you want to dive deeper into how you can prepare an even more sophisticated study plan check out this video.
Step 3. Study Smarter, Not Harder.
The key here is not to just study for the sake of studying. You want to be studying exactly what will be on the test and there is no better way to do that than reviewing your previous exams and reviewing what concepts and information your teacher thought was important enough to test you on earlier in the semester. You can bet they are going to ask similar questions on the final.
Since math and science are subjects that don’t ever really change from year to year, - and we knew you’d both need and appreciate the ability to study for your math and science finals - I’ve compiled the best finals exam study materials I could find online just for you.
Click the link below to access practice tests, complete with answers, from real math and science final exams from high schools all over the country.
