How I Prepared For Finals

Finals are over. It's officially winter break for Roswell High students, and I could not be happier. But in all honesty, since I entered high school, my Christmas spirit or just love for the winter holidays has gone down because of the ever-so-dreaded... finals.

As much as I'd love to forget about finals right now, I thought I'd compile a list of tips for myself and others to reference in the future! (Disclaimer: Most tips relate to specific classes I'm taking at the moment; adjust accordingly...)

1. For math and science classes, do lots and lots of practice. You may think you have it all down, but the more practice you do, the less likely you'll make even careless mistakes on the test. And for chemistry in particular, read the textbook. It wasn't until the middle of the semester when I realized just how useful the textbook is rather than looking through powerpoints.

2. For history classes, again, read some sort of textbook. Reading about a time period in history helps me connect the notes I've taken in class, and that's usually what test questions are like. You have to look for connections. I'm taking AP U.S. History, so the shorter textbook, AMSCO, is extremely useful for test preparation. To be honest, I cram a ton at the end of the semester, and I don't have the time or the concentration to read one of those super long history textbooks. Find a good prep book for whichever history class you're taking, like Crash Course, Barron's, or The Princeton Review.

3. I took French for five years but quit this school year; however if you are taking a World Language class, I suggest quizzing yourself on vocabulary with flashcards or Conjuguemos. They work extremely well for remembering new terms! I'm sure you hear this pretty often, so another tool for studying a World Language is drawing the terms to match with an image. I remember last year when we learned about different rooms in a house like the kitchen, living room, bathroom, etc. I sketched different rooms and wrote the terms over each object, and if you're a visual learner, this is perfect for you.