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I looked at the scattered notes and index cards covering my dining room table last week, struck by a distant but very real memory of my college freshman self during finals: Sprawled out at 6 a.m. in a study room in my freshman dorm, surrounded by textbooks and index cards after pulling an all-nighter.
Trying to absorb every significant event in the history of Western Civilization in one sitting, I learned, was not such a good idea.
Last week many New York City public high school students faced their first round of high school finals, in some cases digesting large quantities of information at the last minute. This week, many of those same students will also take New York State Regents exams they must pass in order to graduate.
Those who know how to keep up with assigned reading and to carefully organize, outline, and study their notes well in advance probably sailed through their finals. Others found the experience daunting, judging from frantic text messaging and Facebook posts proclaiming imminent failure and pleas for help finding the right notes. (more…)
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Dear Judy,
My mother told me that I should write to you about the fact that that I forgot all my math facts when the teacher gave us two minutes to solve 32 multiplication problems. Do you think two minute tests should be allowed?
Jake (4th grader)
Dear Jake,
Short, timed tests are tough, but they do have a purpose. Before we discuss that, I want to assure you that you are not alone — many kids lose it when they first meet a timed test, even in places where test prep pressure is not as strong as it is in NYC schools.
Fortunately, what you describe is not the situation you will face when you take the New York State math test in May. Then you will have an hour and a half — plenty of time to pace yourself. You can tackle the easy problems first, and then go back to those you have trouble with.
Nevertheless, you will be given short two-minute test prep exercises all along the way to graduation and to do well on them, you have to keep your cool and you have to practice. Just as you will before every test, tell yourself, this test will help me find out what I still have to work on. Then tell yourself, I am going to do the best I can. Then take a deep breath and start. (more…)
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A dozen New York City high schools were awarded gold medals by US News and World Report, in its annual ranking of the 100 best high schools in the nation. Schools are ranked according to the degree to which all students meet state standards, and that minority and economically disadvantaged students in the school performed better than statistically expected on state tests. Schools that met these benchmarks were ranked according to their performance on Advanced Placement or Baccalaureate tests, factoring in the achievements of poor and minority students.
The top 100 schools won gold medals, including 12 NYC high schools. Of those, six were highly selective specialized high schools. Of the 461 schools that were given silver medals, NYC high schools were awarded 20, and of the 1,189 bronze medalists, NYC schools received 42. One school won honorable mention.
Gold medalists, in alphabetical order, are Baccalaureate School for Global Studies, Bronx High School of Science, Brooklyn Tech, High School for Dual Language and Asian Studies, High School of American Studies at Lehman College, High School for Law and Public Service, Newcomers High School, New Explorations for Science and Technology +Math, Queens High School for Science at York College, Staten Island Tech, Stuyvesant High School, and Townsend Harris.
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