Studying for Exams (Part 1)

I keep talking about studying for exams and I'd like to point out that you don't need to panic about exams, but you do need to prepare for them!  Exams play a significant role in your final grade for the semester of each course (and remember, because we grant credits based on the semester this is really important to you!) Most of your classes will follow the structure that your 1st quarter grades are worth 40% of your final semester grade, the 2nd quarter grade that you are currently wrapping up now will make up another 40% and then your exam grade is worth 20% of your final semester grade.

20% is a really big deal...Think about it, if you had a 57% the first quarter and end up with a 60% this quarter then you can still pass the class as long as you earn a 66% or higher on the exam. On the other side, if you are trying to make sure that you earn an A in a course and you had a 95% first quarter and an 88% this quarter than you need to earn an 85% or higher on the exam to reach your goal.

Clearly, exams are an important part of your grade, but more importantly, they provide you the opportunity to practice a more realistic glimpse of what testing will be like in college and helps you to showcase your semester's worth of knowledge.

Interestingly, for many high school students you don't yet know how to study.  The challenging part of studying is that what works best for one person may not be what works best for someone else. And, even if you figure out what works best for you in one particular subject area, that still doesn't mean that this particular strategy will be most effective for a different subject.

The best news is that there are lots of different ideas and strategies that you can use to develop a study strategy that works best for you! For what it is worth, think of learning to study like you think of learning to run. You already know some skills that have helped you to know how to study and to be successful - just like you already know how to run, but if you practice and really train at running, you can improve significantly and studying will work just the same. Keep working at your study strategies, practice and continue refining your technique until you find the perfect combination that works for you.

If you are struggling to find strategies to try out, I encourage you to visit the WKHS Counselor website as we have lots of examples there.  You can also work with your teachers and the Academic Assistant's in the Teaching and Learning Center (Room 209) as they have a wealth of knowledge and helpful tips for study strategies that can help you in their particular subject areas as well as studying overall.  And, last, but not least, you can also stop in and see me and I can help brainstorm ideas that you could try.