Advice

Advice Question:

Q: MCAS is approaching at the soon and my parents are pressuring me to study hard and drop some after school activities that I really like! What should I do and how am I supposed to prepare?

A: First of all, you should set a study schedule so you can balance out the time to study and your after school activities. Then, present your plan to your parents. This should convince that you are going to be responsible and they will let you continue your activities. The next step, however, is actually following the schedule that you have made. If you parents feel that you are not sticking to it, they will not listen to anymore comprises that you have for them. While studying, it is important to know how to study. Keep yourself in an quiet room where you will not be subject to any noise or distractions. Keep your phone on silent and hide it somewhere so you don’t feel an urge to check your messages. After that, you should clear your mind and concentrate on the text. But you should know that every brain has a forgetting cycle. In 24 hours, you will forget what you did and learned. Once again review the notes to refresh your memory. Next, it will start again 7 days later (review again) and after that you must do it monthly. When you crack open that topic again the day before the test to just skim it, you will realize that you don’t remember anything! You will have to reread everything. This will make you panic and think that “If I can’t remember my notes now, how will I remember it for tomorrow?!” This is going to discourage you, so please, please, remember this forgetting cycle! Finally, the day before the exam, get a good night’s sleep. If you are browsing your phone at least half an hour before you got to bed, you will toss and turn more that you will sleep. To summarize, you should take full responsibility and step up to the challenge of juggling so many things at once. Good luck!

By: Akshika Chawade