2022 EXAM PREPARATION–PRESSURED OR PREPARED?
HANNAH MILLER | MARCH 25, 2022 | OPINIONS
For Stanton College Preparatory School students, the upcoming months of April and May are bound to be stressful. On top of daily school tasks, students have to combat the increasing anxiety posed by approaching exams. To add to this anxiety, the student body is currently left with unanswered questions about the overall skills the tests will cover and how to study for them. Thankfully, there are answers to these questions.
The exams, which can differ depending on grade level, each have their own impact or no impact on a student’s grade. There will be FSAs, PMAs, and EOCS, but the most threatening are the AP and IB exams. IB exams are held April through May, and AP exams are held in May.
Each test is based on a given course. There are six main subjects for IB/AP: Science, Math, World Languages, English and Theory of Knowledge, History, and Sixth Subjects. For the IB and AP exams, the course and its application to the real world are tested.
AP exams are scaled from one to five and IB are scaled from one to seven. In order to receive an IB diploma, a student must obtain at least 24 points combined from their assessments. This is more achievable than it may sound because students take IB exams throughout the year. For AP, a score of three is generally needed and for IB a four, to get college credit. Good news is that the scores do not affect students’ regular grades, and some colleges do not require the exam scores to be a part of an application (US News).
EOCs are end of the year exams and are taken for multiple subjects. EOCs count for 30% of the course grade, so there is weight to the test. But, they are not the only factor going into a student’s overall grade. Because of this, students should not overly stress about the exams. EOCs cover the standards that teachers have been going over the entire year, so students will likely be ready, especially if they do extra review on their own.
Preparation can take several shapes and forms. To get a general idea, Honors/AP Biology, Anatomy, and Physiology teacher, Mrs. Elizabeth Bureau, was asked several questions pertaining to exam preparation.
“Students need to be studying. We just started the Biology Program on Mondays. They need to be coming in now if they are finding the PMAs difficult because the PMAs are the guide to what the EOC is going to be like.”
The Biology Program is held on Mondays from 3:00-4:00 pm and will continue until the end of April. The program is designed for 9th grade students to prepare for the Biology EOC. Review sheets will be provided by teachers as well as access to a website from Escambia county that has a practice test with an answer key.
During exam preparation, students must remember not to overwork themselves. The stress that pressures someone can overwhelm and cloud the mind, which is never helpful for studying. To prevent this, Kailei Castro, a junior at Stanton, is mainly focusing on handling the stress. She does not want to place more pressure than necessary, so she is adopting a proper mindset to control the anxiety.
Castro says, “I plan to manage my expectations and not put too much weight on getting a perfect score.”
To avoid submission to stress, students can work ahead and start their preparation early. This is easier said than done because Stanton students have a large amount of homework daily. There is no quick solution to a balance between studying for exams and completing third and fourth quarter assignments, but scheduling and creating a study plan can help ease the intimidation of testing.
Jack Wheeler, a freshman at Stanton, already has a study plan in mind for his AP World and AP Human Geography exams.
“My studying strategy is to not overstress, review notes, and watch videos on youtube, like Heimler’s history,” says Wheeler. “I also plan to do some practice tests.”
The pressure can work well with students who are able to produce more work with better quality when they are forced into a short time frame. However, it can also be hurtful to a student who instead of feeling motivated, gives in to the anxiety and does not complete the work. A student must find which method works best for them. Mrs. Kimiyo Watanabe, an English 1 Honors and Great Books teacher, agrees that pressure can be hurtful and/or helpful when finding time to study depending on the student. She sees students placing too much pressure on themselves while trying to find their perfect method.
“Students can feel overly overwhelmed,” says Watanabe. “Since this is a prestigious school, our tests and exams are very important, so I understand the stress and I do see that they tend to place more value on that test score. I do feel testing is important, but it is not everything. Tests are there to see if you are getting information that you need, but it is not the end all be all. It is not going to prevent you from getting to your future, because there are many pathways to getting what you want.”
Furthermore, Mrs. Watanabe agrees with the idea to create time to study, but to also find time for oneself during this process.
“I suggest putting aside a certain amount of time during the day to decompress by doing something that you like,” says Watanabe. “Whether that is listening to music, playing a sport, watching youtube, etc.. Try to find something to decompress with. If you try to sit and study for hours and hours, you will not retain that information and will just be more stressed.”
Through this entire process, students should stick together and find comfort in knowing that they are not alone during these stressful times. It is hard to maintain motivation despite the strain the final months can cause, but the end of the school year is close, and Stanton Blue Devils must keep pushing!