by Gigi Protasiewicz and Sukhmani Kaur

As the 2014-2015 school year winds down, Hathaway Brown students are counting down the days in their planner, their brain, and in their sleep. Hold on before you slip on your sandals, snatch that neon-colored towel, and head down for the community pool. In less than 1 month, friends, there will be EXAMS!

Finals can be one of the most stressful times of the school year, and many students find themselves intimidated or simply unsure of how to study for them.

Well guess what… with this simple guide you can terminate the stress!

  1. Start studying now: If you are taking 5-6 academic classes, you’ll definitely want to start studying, especially since the material spans the entire year and there will be two tests in one day. Procrastination is never a good idea, especially for tests covering such a large amount of material, and it can actually end up saving you time in the long run if you study a little bit every day or week.
  2. Look back at your midterm guide: Chances are you made a study guide for your midterms. Excellent! Add on to that information soon, so that when it comes closer to exam week you can just review your guide, instead of having to dig through piles of old notes.
  3. Ask clarification questions: Don’t feel stupid if you forget something from the beginning of the year. If a class is cumulative and the concept was not used in the past month, chances are you’ve forgotten it. Set up meetings with your teachers and review your notes. They’ll be impressed with your organization and preparation and may even give you 2000 bonus points!!!!!
  4. Concentrate on the subjects that YOU believe are the hardest: It doesn’t make sense to spend hours and hours studying for English, for example, if it is your last exam and you have been getting A’s all year. A more effective use of time would be to focus on the subjects that are not necessarily your best. One way to do this would be to look back on your grades and use them to make a list of what subjects are the most difficult for you, and then divide up your study time proportionally.
  5. Do not get excessively stressed out: Stress only leads to panic and can be detrimental to self-esteem. In order to not to stress out, one should just focus on learning the material, take breaks and avoid excessive studying, and remember that in the end, a test does not define your entire life.