Preparation for Finals

Nutley High School held their finals Monday, June 18 through Thursday, June 21. One final took place from 8:15 a.m. until 10:15 a.m., and the second final was from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Finals are tests that include all the curriculum, which students have learned from midterms through the end of the year. As finals are given, school days are cut to single session days, starting at regular time and ending at 12:35 p.m. Finals were given two classes a day, and were two hours long with a 15 minute break given in between.

“Finals are given each year to make sure that, first of all, students have met the overarching goals of the course as well as to make sure that the program and curriculum is meeting the needs of students,” said Mr. Joseph Materia, one of the two vice principals at Nutley High School. “Finals are worth ten percent of students grades.”

Some advice Mr. Materia offered to students was, “Study, prepare, and don’t panic,” he suggests. “If you have done your work all year you should be okay.”

For students, some wondered how they would be ready for finals week. Some organized their notes and some went to teachers for extra help. Both were ways to help them prepare. “I will study all of the material I have saved from this year, and I will prepare by going to bed early and eating a good breakfast, which I normally don’t do,” said Derrick Kurtzmann, a junior at NHS.

Other ways some students prepared were to make flash cards, or study for hours. “I usually study for about an hour and then I take a break and move onto the next subject,” explains Isabella Iodice, a NHS freshman. “It depends on how well I know the information for the class.”

Suggestions from students were pretty simple. “I usually go over my notes, make flash cards, and make a quiz for myself,” says Gary Morgan, a sophomore. “Finals were easy I would say.”

Overall, students all have different emotions and perspectives towards these types of tests. They have different ways to study, different people they can to go to for help, and suggestions of how long to study for. Regardless, the month of June at NHS was all about preparation for finals.