A WORD ABOUT SEMESTER EXAMS
I give this speech every year, but this is the first time it's been on my website. Let's talk about your exams, what they mean, and your GPA.
Your semester exam in Spanish is over everything we've learned from August 7 until now. It is worth 20% of your overall semester average in my class. 20% might not seem like a lot, but if you go in to the exam with a 90 average, and make a 60 on the exam, you will end up with an 84 for the semester. The exam is enough to drop your average a letter grade, or more, if you perform poorly on it.
Take your exams seriously. Spend as much time as you can preparing for them. You'll hear this from every teacher, in every class. You will get tired of hearing it. We say it over and over, though, in the hope that you'll see that we're serious. These exams are of paramount importance. Your grade point average-- the number that college admissions people look at-- becomes real at the semester. Since this semester's average is figured in with NEXT semester's average, and the material next semester is FAR more difficult than this semester's, it only makes sense to have the highest possible grade you can have going into next semester. You will never regret hours of studying if you end up with a good grade. End up with a bad grade, however, and you'll always wish you'd taken things more seriously. Ask anyone.
I can't speak for any class but my own; so, some particulars:
Your Spanish exam has three parts:
Scantron, worth 50%, is 100 questions long. This is the exam you will take on the last day you are in my class for the semester. The Scantron is a lot of reading, verb conjugation, vocabulary, and matching/true-false. The best thing you can do to prepare for the Scantron exam is KNOW THE VOCAB from Chapters 1-3 inside and out. You will receive a REVIEW PACKET for this part of the exam on Thursday of this week.
Speaking, worth 20%, is four questions long. There are six sets of questions, and you will draw a number corresponding to a set of questions. You will have ten seconds to start answering each question, and the question will only be repeated twice. We have already started reviewing for this, and will review again as a class Friday, December 8 and Tuesday, December 12.
Writing, worth 30%, has two parts. One part is verb conjugation, and is ten questions. The second part is a writing prompt, in which you are given a topic to write at least five sentences about. The writing exam will take place on December 14.
So, your final will take three days in my class. It is a difficult exam; let no one tell you otherwise. I will do everything I can to prepare you for it-- do yourself the same favor and do everything YOU can to prepare yourself as well.
I will have two exam review sessions AFTER SCHOOL, December 11 and December 12. Anyone who wants to attend is welcome to do so... this will give you a chance to ask any questions I've not been able to answer in class, or go over anything you are having particular difficulty with. Review sessions will last until 4:45 both days.
THERE WILL BE NO TUTORING AVAILABLE AFTER DECEMBER 12,
SO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THESE SESSIONS!!
Your semester exam in Spanish is over everything we've learned from August 7 until now. It is worth 20% of your overall semester average in my class. 20% might not seem like a lot, but if you go in to the exam with a 90 average, and make a 60 on the exam, you will end up with an 84 for the semester. The exam is enough to drop your average a letter grade, or more, if you perform poorly on it.
Take your exams seriously. Spend as much time as you can preparing for them. You'll hear this from every teacher, in every class. You will get tired of hearing it. We say it over and over, though, in the hope that you'll see that we're serious. These exams are of paramount importance. Your grade point average-- the number that college admissions people look at-- becomes real at the semester. Since this semester's average is figured in with NEXT semester's average, and the material next semester is FAR more difficult than this semester's, it only makes sense to have the highest possible grade you can have going into next semester. You will never regret hours of studying if you end up with a good grade. End up with a bad grade, however, and you'll always wish you'd taken things more seriously. Ask anyone.
I can't speak for any class but my own; so, some particulars:
Your Spanish exam has three parts:
Scantron, worth 50%, is 100 questions long. This is the exam you will take on the last day you are in my class for the semester. The Scantron is a lot of reading, verb conjugation, vocabulary, and matching/true-false. The best thing you can do to prepare for the Scantron exam is KNOW THE VOCAB from Chapters 1-3 inside and out. You will receive a REVIEW PACKET for this part of the exam on Thursday of this week.
Speaking, worth 20%, is four questions long. There are six sets of questions, and you will draw a number corresponding to a set of questions. You will have ten seconds to start answering each question, and the question will only be repeated twice. We have already started reviewing for this, and will review again as a class Friday, December 8 and Tuesday, December 12.
Writing, worth 30%, has two parts. One part is verb conjugation, and is ten questions. The second part is a writing prompt, in which you are given a topic to write at least five sentences about. The writing exam will take place on December 14.
So, your final will take three days in my class. It is a difficult exam; let no one tell you otherwise. I will do everything I can to prepare you for it-- do yourself the same favor and do everything YOU can to prepare yourself as well.
I will have two exam review sessions AFTER SCHOOL, December 11 and December 12. Anyone who wants to attend is welcome to do so... this will give you a chance to ask any questions I've not been able to answer in class, or go over anything you are having particular difficulty with. Review sessions will last until 4:45 both days.
THERE WILL BE NO TUTORING AVAILABLE AFTER DECEMBER 12,
SO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THESE SESSIONS!!
In the meantime, make flash cards, practice the speaking questions on the list we made in class last week, and make a list of anything you're confused about.
THIS WEEK'S LESSON PLAN:
Monday:
Go over verb worksheets from Thursday.
Go back over ir and jugar.
Do a short writing practice (together, as a class).
Go over verb worksheets from Thursday.
Go back over ir and jugar.
Do a short writing practice (together, as a class).
Tuesday:
Review for exam over Chapter 3.
Review for exam over Chapter 3.
Wednesday:
Chapter 3 Exam.
Chapter 3 Exam.
Thursday:
Distribute semester exam review packets;
work on these in class and discuss particulars
about the Scantron final.
Distribute semester exam review packets;
work on these in class and discuss particulars
about the Scantron final.
Friday:
Review for speaking exam.
Review for speaking exam.
