Review for Final Exam (Days 169-170)

Today in Ethnostats, it's time to start preparing for the final exam. As I mentioned before, the second semester final will cover Chapters 11-18.

Originally I'm hoping to review two chapters today, both 11 and 12. But in the end, we review only Chapter 11 today. Of the thirty questions on the exam (that I wrote over spring break, if you recall), a whopping eight are from Chapter 11, so spending this much time on the chapter is worth it.

This chapter is titled "Observational Studies and Experiments." For most of the questions on the final, the kids are given a study or survey, and they must identify whether it's an experiment for not. And for experiments, they must state how many treatments there are. But there are also a few other types of related questions on my exam as well.

To conduct today's review, I begin by passing out a worksheet of questions copied from the text, which the students must complete. But then I also hand out markers and conduct the review as VNPS. By doing this, I make sure that the students really are preparing for the exam. I can tell at a glance which students still remember the material and can distinguish between experiments and observational studies, and which ones need more assistance.

The tricky part is making sure that I cover all the material required for the exam. While many of the questions on the page from the text are directly related to the my test questions, a few aren't. While it's worth discussing these topics, doing so takes time away from the questions of Chapter 12 and all subsequent chapters.

Today is an all-classes Monday with shorter periods. On Wednesday the review will continue, except that it's a block day, so I need to be able to cover more chapters. This time, I'll plan to discuss specific chapters at certain times so that all chapters are covered, and the students can complete the worksheet between the discussion times. While I'll let the students keep the markers, I won't do it as VNPS -- the students can keep the desks horizontal, and I'll have them write the answers sporadically during the period.

Meanwhile, in Trig, we are also preparing for finals. We review Chapter 1 from the text -- nine of the 30 questions come from this chapter. But in Calculus, there is no final, since the AP exam was their final. We continue working on the project this week -- including the one girl who was gone all last week. I place her in a group with two others, and the three of them will do a video.

Today is Sevenday on the Eleven Calendar:

Resolution #7 -- We earn our grades through hard work and determination.

And with most of my students preparing for finals this week, we're definitely working hard, determined to earn good grades on the test.

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