As the school year winds down, high school chemistry teachers face the important task of preparing their students for the final exam. The final exam is a culmination of all the knowledge and skills students have acquired throughout the year, making it essential for teachers to effectively review key concepts and ensure that students are well-prepared. But final exam review looks so different to different people. To help, I’ve compiled a list of practical tips and strategies for implementing final exam review in your high school chemistry classroom.
Start Early
Begin reviewing for the final exam well in advance to give students ample time to reinforce their understanding. I like to start about 6 weeks before finals. I’ve done this in a variety of different ways over the years. Consider incorporating review activities into your regular lesson plans in the weeks leading up to the exam. This allows you to ensure you’re able to cover a good amount of material. You can check out this post or this PD on spiral review to learn more about how to incorporate old content organically into your lessons.
Focus on Key Concepts
Whether you are writing your own final, or using one written by someone else, you should know the breakdown. Identify the most important concepts and skills that will be covered on the final exam and prioritize them. Reviewing key concepts allows students to focus their efforts and land the highest score they can.
Throughout the year I have students graph their unit test data on this test score tracker. If you haven’t been doing that, you can have them go back into their gradebook (or print a filtered report for each student) and retroactively fill in data. This will show both you and your students the units that they struggled with most. Those are the units you want to focus on!
Use a Benchmark or Practice Exam
There are topics that students may not have done well on the first time, that look a lot better now. I’m thinking of Atomic. When they first learned it, it was tough. But now that they’ve gone through your entire course, I’m sure atomic structure is a lot easier! By using a practice exam, students can “retest” their knowledge and determine what truly needs to be studied or relearned.
Additionally, practice exams allow students to familiarize themselves with the types and format of questions they will see on the test, building confidence. In my final exam pack, there are four final exams with a document that tells you or students exactly what unit is being tested for each question. If for example, they get questions 5-8 right, they will know that Atomic is looking pretty good for them. No need to study.
Use a Variety of Review Strategies
Keep students engaged and motivated by incorporating a variety of review strategies into your classroom instruction. Consider using review games, practice problems, concept maps, and interactive quizzes like Blooket to reinforce key concepts and help students retain information. Make sure that most of this is not new material you are creating. Instead things you are reusing from earlier in the year or curating from the internet! No need to go crazy!
Offer Review Sessions
Schedule review sessions after school to provide students with additional support and assistance as they prepare for the final exam. Review sessions allow students to ask questions, seek clarification, and receive personalized feedback from the teacher. Many schools will have some money left in the budget that needs to be spent. I VERY MUCH urge you to check if you can be paid for these sessions. I’m not the person encouraging you to work for free! Maybe you can swap a lunch duty for review sessions instead. You, perhaps, can be given some comp time. See what you can work out!
Encourage Peer Collaboration
If you’ve been working on growth mindset all year, your students will be more open to the idea of working together to study. You can encourage peer tutoring, and group study sessions to allow students to help each other. Maybe you can facilitate this with a sign up sheet for students to form groups after school in the library.
Provide Resources
Supply students with review materials, such as study guides, review packets, and online resources like my Youtube channel, to support their independent review efforts. My channel is designed specially for high school chemistry students making it perfect for final exam review. Most of the reviewing should be independent and the students’ responsibility. Don’t let it all fall on you. Remind them to use the resources you’ve been providing all year, including your Google Classroom or LMS Equivalent. This is also something that some parents will be looking for a lot of the time.
Your Final Exam
If you’re writing your own final exam, I would certainly check out this blog post about writing exams and writing test questions.
If you don’t want to write a final exam, but have the responsibility, I would check out my final exam pack. It is a comprehensive and customizable final exam designed specifically for year one high school chemistry students. It will assess student understanding of key concepts and skills covered throughout the year and ensure that students well versed in chemistry!
Final Exam Features:
- Comprehensive coverage of all major topics and skills in high school chemistry curriculum
- A variety of question types, including multiple choice, short answer, and problem-solving questions
- 75 questions per test, administered in 90-120 minutes
- Aligned with standards to ensure relevance and rigor
- Answer keys and teacher guides for easy grading and assessment
- Editable so you can make the exam exactly fit the needs of your classroom
- “Topic Searcher” document tells you what concepts are being tested, so you can you easily add or remove questions.
- 4 different exams, each with 2 versions
- “Companion File” which outlines which units of study are tested in each question.
- Teacher Use: If you don’t like a periodic table question, you can replace with another PT question from another test.
- Student Use: If giving as a practice exam, students can determine which units they need to focus on studying
By incorporating a prewritten final exam, you can streamline assessment, save time on exam preparation, and ensure that your students tested on all topics you taught in your course.
Prep Work is Important
Implementing final exam review in high school chemistry classrooms requires careful planning, effective instruction, and targeted support. By following these tips and utilizing resources like the final exam pack, you can ensure that your students are well-prepared for the final exam. They’ll finish the school year strong with a score that truly represents what they’ve learned in your classroom this year.
