The holiday season is finally here and it’s almost time to enjoy that wonderful winter break. However, for many students this is one of the worst times of the year. This is because finals for each class are coming up. During these last few weeks marking the end of the semester, the exams are the last assignments that can either save or tank a student’s grade.
At Centennial High School, students are frantically preparing for the exams they will take in a week. Many students prepare by reviewing past notes, assignment, and tests. Teachers themselves go over old material to refresh the students on previous topics and prepare them for the tests. The workload has been especially large due to each class needing to finish important lessons before the end of the semester.
Austin Du, a student in the eleventh grade International Baccalaureate (IB) program with a mix of Advanced Placement (AP) and Honors classes, has been studiously preparing. Every day, he spends time completing homework in advance in order to make room for studying during the last week of classes.
He stated to JSR, “I have learned my lesson from last year that procrastinating on any work is not worth the trouble for any class.”
Exam time is also stressful for teachers at the school.
Brian Drobet, Centennial’s AP Calculus teacher, told JSR, “This is the time of the year where I have to grade all of the assignments that I have not done already and prepare each and every one of my students for the final. It involves a faster pace… and a lot of work [for the students] as well.”
According to Drobet, students start begging for higher grade or chances to make up lost points around this time every year. This is often a tough decision for teachers to make and takes a lot of consideration and thought, adding to the stress put upon teachers.
Justin Yoon
