Frisco ISD does not require students to take finals at the end of the semester. However, those in dual credit Collin College classes have had to learn the rigor of preparing for these tests, and taking them starting on Monday, on their own. 

“For history, all of last semester I struggled because I was not prepared for the way my professor taught and everything was free response, so I had trouble with my final and failed some of the quizzes,” junior Neekie Ansari said via text. “But this semester, my professor gives us quizzes every week which helps us prepare for the final next week. My professor taught us all the information we need to know for our final and he taught us in a neat way where we discuss with others in our class online.”

This has also been an adjustment for students like junior Shunmathi Rajesh, who has found it helpful to work with classmates. 

“Right now it’s been really tough for me to prepare for finals because it’s hard to reach out to my professor sometimes, but I’ve tried my best to prepare by going over all my mistakes and trying to change my way of writing based on the feedback my professor gives,” Rajesh said via text. “I also prepare by collaborating with other students and asking them what they would change about my essays and how they would have written the topics.”

Some dual credit students began preparing for their finals weeks ago and approaching them like any other form of assessment. 

 “I’m preparing for my finals by reviewing my professor’s lectures that he videotaped and also looking over my notes,” junior Arden Radford said via text. “Although it’s a high stakes test, it isn’t much different than preparing for regular exams so it wasn’t difficult to adjust.”

Junior Sakshi Bolar, in both dual credit and AP classes, is taking both finals and College Board AP tests starting Monday.

“The AP tests can be more difficult in regards to the time crunch and the overall intimidation it can give students because of the stressful environment,” Bolar said via text. “However, finals for dual credit classes can also be a challenge because the student has to generally self-study the content after the lecture has been given, while there is usually about a month of review in AP classes.”

Despite the difficulty now, students foresee advantages to being introduced to these assessments in their high school career.  

“I honestly think these finals are going to help me in the long run,” Ansari said via text. “I’m getting decently prepared for these bigger tests that will be brought my way in college and I’m teaching myself better ways to study.”