Exam Tips for the Stressed Student

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As the first trimester of the 2017-2018 school year comes to a close, one things comes to the minds of freshmen and senior alike: exams. Finals are a stressful time for all–both teachers and students–and there are certain procedures that truly help students during this time. If you are one of those students that freak out about finals but don’t know what to do, these tips are for you.

  1. Don’t Cram

This is pretty obvious, but cramming is the worst thing you could do to yourself. If you spend the two weeks leading up to exams reviewing forgotten material while also learning the remaining material, you’ll be in much better shape that trying to learn twelve weeks of information in one night for multiple classes and not sleeping at all. That does make a lot of sense, right? So don’t even think about pulling an all-nighter.

  1. Get Some Sleep

As tempting as it can be to stay up all night cramming (which is a studying sin!), it really won’t benefit you in the long run. After a certain time at night, the human brain essentially shuts off. If one still has homework left after that certain switch on any given night, it’s better to hit the hay and finish in the morning; why take twenty minutes to do something while exhausted that would normally take five minutes when the brain is fully functioning?  

  1. Study Guides

If the study guide is required for credit, do it; if it’s not, don’t feel like you have to complete the guide in its entirety, but at least look over that bad boy. Teachers give them to you for a reason. If it’s not required, you can go through each section and mark what you can’t answer without looking at your notes, going back to complete these marked parts. If you don’t have time to do the whole thing or even what you don’t know, don’t worry–that will only make your exam stress worse!  

  1. Don’t Study for English

If there’s one thing that any senior has learned in high school, it’s that English exams are not something that you can really study for. For AP Language and similar classes, roots or vocabulary are the one things you can study for. Other than that, don’t waste your time–get cracking on Biology!

  1. The Silly Stuff Works

Those silly things you’ve heard like eating a good breakfast, drinking lots of water, chewing gum or eating a mint–they all work. All the little things really do help. None of these extra steps will actually raise your IQ, but they will provide you with the steadiness needed to do well on all of your tests.  

Bonus Tip: Study hard. You won’t regret studying, but you will regret being on your phone and not taking finals seriously.