With finals week approaching, the math department is finalizing the changes students will see on upcoming common assessments. According to math department chairperson Jacinda Sohalski, the department hasn’t seen any major overhauls in terms of test format, but nonetheless has made minor adjustments.

“This was decided based on prior data (previous exams), as well as continuing study of the common core standards,” Sohalski said via e-mail.

Students continue to prepare much as they always have. “Most of what I do to prepare for math tests in general and for the final is to just to practice…there’s a huge disparity between knowing theoretically how to do a math problem and having it mastered,” said junior Matthew McDonald.

The math department anticipates a successful round of final assessments and will continue to adjust their assessments based on student performance.

“After the exams we will look at the data to determine areas of weakness and discuss ways to improve on this,” Sohalski said.