Gallery • 15 Photos

Mackenzie McGuire

junior Elena Scheve finishing up work for an AP biology final.

With the end of the school year approaching, students are beginning to cram information in their minds for the end-of-semester final exams.  Final exams at St. Charles West look different for every class: Ms. Holland’s class retests on big projects for her Spanish 1-2 classes, Ms. Shelburg’s honors algebra 2 class is doing math retests in certain standards, and classes such as Mrs. Weil’s class will be giving a cumulative final.  However, according to SCSD district policy, if you have an “A” in a class, no large discipline issues, (and the teacher approves), students can exempt certain finals.

According to a poll sent out to St. Charles West students, 90% are exempting at least one of their finals.  This takes off stress for each student, as you are not required to go in and take finals for all classes.  However, the seniors interviewed still recommended some tips for freshmen taking their first set of St. Charles West finals.

“To keep track of everything I need to study, I write down all of my assignments and any due dates in my planner. For studying, I give myself increments of time where once that time is up I get a 5-10 minute break before returning to work. This keeps my better on task and better motivated. I will also rework old worksheets to study for upcoming assessments.”, says Alanna Bilyeu.

“Making a quizlet always helps when it comes to studying, its a good tool for memorizing stuff”, says Kieran Hefele.

“I prefer to work and rework practice problems”, says Sophie Zeier.

“I like to use study guides”, says Paige Ryherd.

“I watch videos and read different readings”, says Thomas Wilson.

Either way, all study methods are extremely effective depending on the person, and what might work for someone else might not work for you.  However, it is extremely important to study (whatever way you feel comfortable with, or steal the senior’s ideas) in order to prepare yourself for a successful final exam.