While finals may not be for several more weeks, many blazers are gearing up for AP exams taking place in just a few days. Whether you are an upperclassman with a loaded schedule, or a freshman or sophomore only taking a single exam, this article can help you feel connected to your fellow students during this difficult and stressful time of year. Hopefully you can also find your new favorite study tip, or at least a nice last-minute strategy to finalize that 5 for your exam next week!
Study Tips:
Even though many blazers have had a lot of experience with exams and studying, new study strategies can be a huge help heading into a busy time of year. Are you overwhelmed with sports after school, and have no time to sit down with a book? Can you only learn by writing down your material? These tips from your fellow blazers can help!
Tip #1- If you are taking an AP exam, utilize online resources to help you out. For example, many classes have cheap and readily available flashcard sets or books on Amazon. You can also use the videos for your course in AP classroom, and these are especially helpful for a blazer-on-the-go, as you can just listen to these in the car or even the shower!
Tip #2- Use your study guide. If you’re lucky enough and your teacher has provided you with a study guide for your exam, or even study guides for individual tests, use them! If you don’t have pre-made study guides, you can always make one yourself. Take the most important major topics from each unit and put them into an organized format. If studying on Quizlet is your thing, you can even use the magic option to directly transform your study guide into a study set! Small warning…the set may be large. (like 616 flashcards large, thanks AP Gov!)
Tip #3- Use the study method that works for YOU. After some time taking exams, and midterms this year, you may have some idea of what gets that knowledge cemented in your brain. If you learn best and perform best on tests from rewriting your notes, do that! If you are a big fan of visual learning, draw those diagrams! Don’t be intimidated by what works for other people, do what works for you.
Stressed? Tired? These tips are for you!
Are you stressed and sweating about upcoming exams? Are you already studying, but losing sleep over your impending tests? Don’t stress! Here is your reminder to slow down a little, and make sure you are prioritizing you and your health. Even if this may be a big deal to you, a less-than-perfect grade is not the end of your life. You are so much more than your grades, and if you are studying hard and doing your best, you’ll do amazing! Here are some strategies to help you through this stressful time of year.
#1-Breathing Strategies
While they might feel silly, your breathing has a real impact on your body and your state of mind. Fast breathing means an increased heart rate, and just like that, your body goes into panic mode. Not the best state of mind to be answering an essay question in. Slow breaths in and longer breaths out calms your heart rate, allowing you to access information that now isn’t blocked out by your fight or flight instinct. Even if you don’t want to use a breathing strategy like the box method, just breathing through your nose for 3 seconds and out through your mouth for 5 will help calm you down.
#2- Sleep, sleep, sleep.
Sleep is critical to our body, and it is often overlooked but a very crucial part of test-taking. Sleep is like fuel to our bodies, and what happens when you forget to refill a car? It can keep going for a while, but eventually it won’t be able to keep up and will slow to a stop. Your body works the same way! Without proper sleep, you will be unable to keep up.
#3- Fuel your body.
Just like sleep, hydration and your diet are crucial to not only good test-taking, but a healthy body. Although Celsius and Alani may be delicious, you need to balance out that intake with a lot of water. Your brain performs better on lots of sleep, food, and H2O. You would never consider not feeding your dog or cat, or not ever letting them sleep. So why would you be any different? Fuel your body, and you will be able to study longer, feel better, and perform better on your testing.
Finals and AP exams are certainly a cause for stress. But with these helpful pieces of advice, you can feel a lot better about your chances. Have a good time studying and go to bed early. Trust me, those last 10 flashcards are not more important than your rest. Make sure to take care of you going into testing season, and I’m manifesting 5s and A+ for everyone!