Throughout the school year, freshman Lily Winsten has kept the biology end-of-course exam in the back of her mind, in part because the test will count for 30 percent of her final grade in the class.

“I felt pretty prepared for the EOC. I kind of delayed studying until a couple of nights before the test, but that may have impacted my grade in the long run,”Winsten said. ”I was a little stressed that my mind would just go blank on the test, but I feel like everything worked out.”

Freshman Cooper Cheng said that the idea of a test accounting for 30 percent of his grade has not affected his learning.

“I got advice from my sister and this leads me to believe that the EOC is pretty simple and mostly common sense,” Cheng said. “I have also experience. Mrs.[Angela] Feldbush as my biology teacher and I’m pretty sure most of us can say she truly prepared us for the EOC. I knew going to the exam I was ready.”

For now, Cheng anxiously awaits his EOC results.

“Throughout this year I’ve been getting between  A’s and B’s and getting a 5 on the exam would determine whether I got an A or a B,” he said. ”I also had a lot of pressure from my family because they expect me to be at the level of my sister who got a 5 on the exam.”

Taking an EOC test can be nerve-racking even logging in ahead can invalidate your test, Cheng said.

“Before and after the exam I felt the same,” he said. “Confidence was on my side and before the exam, I definitely knew I was prepared, but the way you have to log in always makes me nervous. Afterward, I was confident that I at least passed.”

Freshman Alison Richards said she felt nervous going into the exam, but that her teacher helped her succeed.

“We have prepared for this one test all year long, and doing poorly on this would reflect poorly on what I’ve been doing all year,” Richards said.” I knew I was prepared and I knew Mrs. Feldbush had done everything she could to help my peers and I score well. I had a lot of trust in Mrs. Feldbush because she knows what she’s doing. This isn’t her first rodeo.”

By Rhyann Martin