All biology students were required to take the End of Course exam last week and while scores for the exam will not be released until later this summer, students and teachers appear optimistic about the results.

“Most of the students said they felt good about the exam,” biology teacher Mary Anderson said. “They’ve all put in some much effort throughout the entire year to not only learn the subject but to understand the concepts as well, so I have high expectations for the results.”

Anderson added that the students were conditioned to succeed.

“The students were very prepared for the End of Course this year,” Anderson said. “They even asked the biology teachers to hold a weekend review session the Sunday before the exam.”

Test prep for the EOC has been stressed this year as passing the exam has become a high school graduation requirement.

“This is the first year it has been required to pass the EOC,” biology teacher Paula Ladd said. “If students don’t pass it, they have to take it again next year. They won’t be taking a biology class when they retake it, so the information won’t be fresh in their minds and the exam will be harder for them. So there was a lot of pressure for students to perform well.”

By David Anderson