As the end of the year rapidly approaches, students at Rancho Cucamonga High School find themselves occupied with prepping for many upcoming events like Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and finals for their classes.
For the fall semester of the 2024-2025 school year, final exams will occur on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024, through Thursday, Dec. 19. To help prepare for final exams, students at RCHS shared how they will be prepping for finals.
“For my finals, I will most definitely be studying for most of my classes using previous notes and materials that I had collected over the semester,” said junior Maia Gierczak. “I’ll try to find some online sources for classes like anatomy to hopefully give me a better chance at getting a higher score.”
Senior Julianna Monroy also said she would be using her notes and resources to study for final exams.
“I usually go back and look over class notes, along with YouTube videos that sum up the course as a whole,” Monroy said.
While some RCHS students shared that they are confident about the upcoming finals and have a plan to study, others shared that they still feel a tinge of nervousness in the back of their minds for finals.
“I am nervous for finals because it’s my last year and I would hate to do bad this year,” said Monroy. “I’m trying to finish strong that way I’m content in knowing I did my best by the time I graduate.”
Gierczak reflected on how she’s currently feeling about the upcoming final exams.
“Overall, for right now, I’m not that nervous as it is still about a month before finals. But as time passes, I’ll probably start feeling a bit more anxious,” said Gierczak. “I usually do pretty well on my exams but in the end, it’ll all come down to how much studying I’ll do leading up to the exams that’ll determine my confidence.”
While RCHS students might feel a bit nervous about upcoming finals, they also have confidence that they will do well.
“I think I’m gonna do really good,” said senior Brooke Santilli.
Monroy also said that she hopes she will do well on finals.
“I hope I’m going to do well as long as I study correctly and really understand the curriculum in my classes, and ask my teachers all the right questions.”
In addition to students preparing for finals, teachers at RCHS are also preparing their students for finals. Ms. Mandy Kinney, who teaches math, said that she helps prepare students by giving them a study guide.
“I usually give a two-page study guide, front and back, with at least two to three problems of each one that is on the final,” said Kinney. “I try and hit maybe fifteen to twenty concepts and then we just go over it in class. They’re allowed a half sheet of computer paper for notes.”
RCHS students also shared that they plan on some of their finals being more difficult than other. Gierczak said she thinks her AP US History class and anatomy and physiology classes will be the most difficult.
“I will definitely be studying for my AP US history and anatomy and physiology classes the hardest,” said Gierczak. “Those two classes require a lot of memorization and knowledge on the topics in order for me to receive a good grade. However, I am up for the challenge and will try to study as much as I can leading up to the exams.”
Junior Areeba Afzal also commented on which classes she thinks will be the most difficult and will study the hardest for.
“My hardest classes are math and physics, I’ll have to study the hardest for them,” said Afzal.
There are many online resources to help students study including Quizlet and Kahoot. In addition to studying for finals, it is beneficial to get a good night’s sleep and eat a good breakfast.
