Dear Freshmen: How To Take High School Exams

Dear Freshmen aka ‘Fresh-Meat’,

Congratulations! You’ve made it through three years (hopefully no more than that) of putting up with middle school only to come to even more testing and exams. First semester exams will start on the 16th, meaning teachers have shoved every possible study guide they can down our throats over the past couple of days. These things are usually more than two pages long and bring up junk you haven’t thought about since you went over it in October, so don’t wait ’til the day before the exam to look over it. Also, if finishing the review isn’t obligatory, do it anyway because you never know what may show up on the exam and practice makes perfect.
Don’t pressure yourself with the thought that you must ace this exam. Although the exam is usually worth ten to twenty percent of your semester grade, don’t let it get to your head or you’ll develop test anxiety. People with test anxiety usually get the easiest questions wrong and/or misspell their name, and you don’t want to be that kid. Do not stay up all night studying and drink a couple of Monsters or Starbucks drinks and expect it to be okay. Get a good night of sleep and don’t drink too much caffeine or you’ll crash. Have something healthy and fun for breakfast like Tropical Smoothie, Panera Bread, or Chick-fil-A.
Take your time with the exam and review your answers before you turn in your scantron. This is just like any other test! Do your best and believe in yourself! Remember that there’s always hope during second semester!

Here is this week’s exam schedule to help you out:
Friday January 16th – 7th period
Tuesday January 20th – 2nd and 4rth period
Wednesday January 21st – 3rd and 5th period
Thursday January 22nd – 1rst and 6th period

The first exam of the day is estimated to last from 7:20 to 8:50. We will have a break from 8:50 to 9:10 then the second exam will start and then end around 10:40.