Students prepare for Keystone retakes

Eighty five students started to prepare for the Keystone retakes at the beginning of the year and now in January hope to be prepared enough to pass the Keystones this time.

Level three students who failed the Keystones last year had to take a second math class in order to prepare for the retakes in January. Some students have the second math class in the first half on the year, and some students take it in the second half on the year. They used math websites called apex and Pearson to practice and review their math skills. The students retook the Keystones on Jan. 10 and Jan. 11.

“Yes I do think I’m prepared to take them. I have been doing bonus work on Pearson that I think is progressing me,” ninth grade Sophia Roefaro said.

Pearson is one of the new websites that the school found to help students work with their math skills based on a test they take before there chapter begins.

“Yes, I think Apex helped me perfectly. Some units I had trouble in though,” ninth grader Sophia Roefaro said.

Apex is another math website students used to prepare to take the Keystone retakes. Apex had a bunch of different units and students are tested on the unit the teacher assigns them.

“Yes, it helped a lot,” ninth grader Sophia Roefaro said.

This student said having a second math class helped a lot in preparing for the retakes.

“I feel weak in linear equation and strong in probability,” ninth grader Sophia Roefaro said.

Students have skills they feel strongly in and skills they are not very strong at. Each student is different and prepares for the retakes in their own way.

“I don’t really know how I did on the Keystone retakes, but I tried my hardest,” ninth grader Gabby Holliday said.

This student feels like she did well on the test and put a lot of effort into trying to pass the keystone retakes.

“Yes, it helped a lot and had me much more prepared to take them after the long summer break of not studying,” ninth grader Gabby Holliday said.

The math websites the teacher provided during their second math class seemed to help students out with preparing for the test.

“It took me about 3-4 hours,” ninth grader Gabby Holliday said.

Students could take as long as they needed in order to try to pass the test, and even if they needed to stay after school hours someone would stay back with them.

“I feel like I did okay on them, but I’m worried I didn’t pass and I don’t want to take them again,” ninth grader Gabby Holliday said.