As the school year is coming to an end, finals and AP exams are approaching. Time to start cramming and stressing, as many students find that upcoming tests lead to a lot of added stress. Students all have their own way to relieve stress, some stress eat, slap on a face mask, study like crazy, or even just ignore it and decide to wing it.

Being prepared to take a test is a lot of hard work, and can lead to a lot of pressure being put on a high schooler. Studying and mentally preparing for an upcoming exam can be stressful for many.

With finals approaching getting stressed out is easy. Finals count as a whole six weeks grading period, that one exam can have a big role in your final grade in that course.

Even though, incentives provide a safety net for students stressing about taking finals, many students only get one or two and some students don’t get any incentives at all and are stuck cramming for their finals.

Incentives are based off of attendance and students who have excessive unexcused absences, won’t get the chance to get one. Incentives serve as reassurance for students worried about finals, if your final grade is lower than your semester average, then the grade of your semester average will go in as your final grade instead of having a bad grade for your final.

It’s important to prioritize what you need to study based on what you need the most help with. Making sure that you have the time and resources to be able to study successfully is crucial. Using Quizlet is something I have found to be very helpful when trying to memorize things for upcoming tests. Quizlet is free and many teachers use it to help students prepare for tests, with millions of users it’s easy to find pre-existing quizlets about the topic you need help on to study.

Making sure to communicate with your teacher about things you don’t understand and attending tutoring sessions if you need extra help, is a major key to being successful on tests. Also reviewing old homeworks and quizzes and reviewing the problems that you got wrong, can be very helpful as well.

Procrastination often gets in the way of studying, but something I have found useful is to remove all distractions while working. Turn of your phone, choose a comfortable and quiet place to work and make sure you’re focused. Even then sometimes I just don’t want to study and would rather watch some Netflix, but you have to find something to motivate you. Your motivation can be watching some Netflix after you finish, rewarding yourself with a shopping spree or even motivating yourself with snacks can be effective.

Not only is it important to make sure that you review and study prior to a test, it’s important to take a break and relax. It’s easy to get caught up in cramming for a test, but we have to remember to take a second for ourselves to minimize stress. There are many ways to relax in between or while you are studying, making sure your in a comfortable place, having snacks ready and having peaceful music playing, can be very calming. I would recommend listening to Lofi Beats it’s not distracting and is soothing, and you can find a variety of this genre on youtube or any music streaming platform.

I find that making sure you practice self-care habits regularly helps with avoiding stress. Taking a nice hot shower or bath, putting on a face mask, listening to your favorite music and having a good night’s sleep can be very refreshing after a long day.

We can all agree that tests can become stressful and demanding, however it’s a part of high school and if you are able to find what works for you in regard to preparation, testing can become a breeze. I would encourage you to test out new methods and ways to study and de-stress to feel ready and comfortable to take a test.