{"id":349244,"date":"2022-12-10T07:54:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-10T12:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/?p=349244"},"modified":"2022-12-10T07:01:57","modified_gmt":"2022-12-10T12:01:57","slug":"exam-season-approaches-rapidly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/2022\/12\/10\/exam-season-approaches-rapidly\/","title":{"rendered":"Exam Season Approaches Rapidly<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Exam week is approaching, and as teachers are preparing, students are beginning to stress. But fear not! This article will cover strategies and tips for each subject\u2019s exams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the biggest questions students have around exam season is when they should start studying. Upper school math teacher Jason Smith recommends \u201corganizing the material you\u2019ve already had during the semester\u201d after coming back from Thanksgiving break. \u201cThat might vary from class to class, but for mine, it means making sure you have all your old tests, [and looking at] the practice exam packet.\u201d As far as taking the exam goes, Mr. Smith recommends avoiding becoming \u201ctoo wrapped up in one problem.\u201d He encourages students to \u201cjump around,\u201d and \u201cdo all the things that seem really obvious first and then go back and look at some tougher questions.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The night before a math exam, Mr. Smith says his students should \u201cgo through individual chapters\u201d and leave the practice exam for last \u201cbecause that will give you \u2026 a good idea of timing.\u201d Mr. Smith also gives his students the age-old advice of reading directions. \u201cIt\u2019s annoying to lose points because you didn\u2019t read [the directions fully].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Upper school students prepare for exams in the upper library. Photo: Julia Goode<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Upper school English teacher Emily Washburn has an important distinction regarding when to start studying for an English exam. \u201cIf the exam is skill based, then I don\u2019t think you need to start studying very early, because you\u2019ve been building those skills since fifth grade.\u201d However, \u201cif the exam is content based, I would start as soon as you know exactly what\u2019s on the exam.\u201d As far as doing well on an English exam goes, Ms. Washburn advises her students to outline, and to integrate quotes if possible. \u201cDo not write the essay you want to write, write the essay your teacher wants you to write.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Washburn\u2019s next instruction is applicable to every subject: \u201cwear your own non-Apple watch [and do] not trust the clock at the front of the gym.\u201d Time management is key, especially on English and history exams where writing plays a prominent role. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to all of this, Ms. Washburn says that \u201cpeople who read for pleasure tend to do better on English exams.\u201d So, if you want to try a new hobby over winter break, consider picking up a new book. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStudents who have been successful on exams, in my experience, are highly organized and have a system that allows them to see what they do and do not know,\u201d said Dean of the Class of 2026 and biology teacher Ben Ewing. Mr. Ewing also discourages students from \u201crelying really heavily on whiteboards. What I love about whiteboards is they allow you to get all the information up on a board.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he dislikes \u201cthat all the information gets erased. So when students don\u2019t do well on an exam and we\u2019re trying to figure out how they can improve, that information is really valuable.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thankfully, this problem has an easy fix: make sure to take pictures of any whiteboard spreads you might make, and revisit them every once and a while. Mr. Ewing believes that the most effective study strategies are ones that \u201cfocus on the recall of facts from memory.\u201d He explains that \u201cstudents on tests are required to recall facts and if you can\u2019t recall them while you\u2019re studying, you won\u2019t be able to recall them on a test.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dean of the class of 2024 and history teacher Caitlin Terry encourages students to check in with their teachers in the weeks leading up to exams. \u201cJust checking in on a weekly basis prevents \u2026 the messy build-up of pressure before an exam.\u201d In addition, she says that \u201cfrom a teaching perspective, exams are an opportunity to sum up or make big connections across the semester.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Exam week is approaching, and as teachers are preparing, students are beginning to stress. But fear not! This article will cover strategies and tips for each subject\u2019s exams. One of the biggest questions students have around exam season is when they should start studying. Upper school math teacher Jason SmithContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":486,"featured_media":349360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","author-julia-goode25paceacademy-org","post-349244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pacenews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/files\/2022\/11\/examsRBG.jpg?fit=936%2C702&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1TYqQ-1sQY","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/486"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349244"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":349794,"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349244\/revisions\/349794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlife.paceacademy.org\/knightlynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}