How to Cram For a Test the Right Way

By: Madeine Hidalgo 

You. Yes you, the reader. We’ve all frantically ran to our desks, knowing there's a test in class tomorrow and picked up our complicated and unorganized notes to read, only to not comprehend a single word on the page. It’s normal. And it’s bound to happen a number of times. That is, unless you follow this guide to cramming for tests and exams the right way.

Step 1 - Calm down and fix your mindset

             A big issue when it comes to studying and especially cramming, is that you’re in a state of stress and panic. You definitely have the right to be, the assessment is only one sleep away, then you’d have to groggily wake up knowing that you’re probably going to fail. But before you pretend to be sick just to get the test when you go back to school, follow this step closely and improve your thinking, 

             ‘I’m definitely going to fail if I can’t get the equation right.’  Turns into ‘Just need to understand this equation and I’ll be set. I’m okay and I won’t fail.’ How do I know this works? Ask yourself this and  imagine you’re learning something new that you’re interested in, are you going to constantly bombard yourself with negativity and stress yourself out? Or are you going to motivate yourself and find a clear, calm state of mind to do the task to the best of your ability? And the solution is just how you reword your thoughts, simple and effective.

Step 2 - Quickly fix the clutter

             Your workspace should reflect the state of mind we want/have: clear and clean. It also helps us from distracting ourselves further down the line as we’re studying. But you have to know that we’re on a time constraint, so you need to clean quickly to avoid forgetting the task at hand. 

             This is also the time to get rid of your phone, shut off the TV, ask your family to quiet down, and or move to the quietest place you could find in your house. Instrumental music or colored noise definitely works, but have it low enough to where you can hear your thoughts clearly. Music with lyrics is a definite no unless you can focus with it on as people tend to just listen to the song instead or get overwhelmed by the history documents AND The Weeknd blasting in your eardrums.

Step 3 - Write down the topics 

             What can you expect on the test? Do you remember your teacher ever highlighting a certain topic a noticeable amount in class? What ideas do you find challenging? Which ones do you find easy? If you have a few days or even a week, it’s best to go ask your teacher what to expect as they’d most likely deliver. 

              But if it’s truly the last day, I recommend looking back at our notes and memory to see the hardest to the easiest topics and writing them down. Tackle each one and don’t be afraid to use all your resources. Don’t cheat, but understand the ideas presented. Go from hardest to easiest so you can get the most difficult ones out of the way first to receive the easy awards afterwards.

Step 4 - Active Recall

             Active Recall is one's make or break of understanding and memorizing key points in what you’re relearning. If you just skim and scan, read a few pages of the textbook, scroll through social media, of course you won’t retain any information because you never did active recall.

             As the name implies, active recall is when you actively remember and or demonstrate what you’ve learned. A simple way of doing this is reading through your notes or an important piece of information then putting it far away and just start saying what you remember or better yet, pretend you're teaching it to someone else who has no knowledge of it whatsoever like a kindergartner.

In summary, studying last minute is important but it is only as easy as you make it for yourself. If you follow this guide, you’ll most likely pass whatever quiz or exam you can think of. But understand that we’ve only discussed LAST MINUTE studying as this should only be used as a safety net or another way of studying if you studied beforehand and shouldn’t become a force of habit. Learn how to have initiative to study beforehand and organize your notes so that you can make sense of it.

Bad Habits

By Neyda Nova-Mazariegos

Do you bite your nails or skin? Do you put all your work to the side and do it last minute? These are considered bad habits. Bad habits are negative things we do frequently but sometimes we don't even realize we do them.

Procrastination

Procrastination is when you put tasks to the side and do them at the last minute or past their deadline. This can also be a form of an underlying mental health condition, such as anxiety, depression, or ADHD. To avoid procrastinating, you could list things you have to do and write their deadline next to it.

Sleeping Late

Sleeping late leads to sleep deprivation. This increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Sleeping late can also cause weight gain. This could be because you’re looking for something to gain energy during the day, so you look for foods such as junk foods or caffeine. Weight gain from sleep deprivation is also caused because it is associated with levels of a hormone called ghrelin, which increases appetite, making you less full.

Lying

Lying is when you tell what isn’t true. This could lead to people not trusting you anymore and losing many loved ones due to lack of trust. Lying can also lead to stress.

Although I only named 3, many more bad habits can harm you and the people around you. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP; WHY SCHOOL SHOULD START LATER

By: Dechaliz Matias-Duran

You wake up for school, it’s 6AM. You have to shower, eat breakfast, get ready, and maybe even more. You’re on the bus– almost falling asleep. During 4th period, you almost pass out. You go back home, and instantly take a nap.

Another scenario: You’re going on a trip, you’re on a bus next to your friend, and your friend is fast asleep, you try waking them up, but it’s not working. When they wake up, they tell you that they had 7 hours of sleep, which both of you think is enough.

Why are we so tired in school? Why do we always want to fall asleep anywhere we can? We get the right amount of sleep, or do you? How many hours of sleep do you really need? 

When people are pre-teens and teenagers (ages 9-15), they usually need more sleep for their development. This usually goes from 8 to 10 hours of sleep every single night. 

But, there is a problem with this. Melatonin, which is the hormone that produces sleep. The problem is that Melatonin appears later in the night in teenagers compared to adults.

 This makes them fall asleep later than they are supposed to. For example, they have to be sleeping by 10:30pm, but they end up falling asleep at 12:00AM. They wake up at 6am, that means they would only have 6 hours of sleep. Needing 8-10 hours of sleep, you would be missing 2-4 hours of sleep in this scenario.

According to research done by LeBonheurs Childrens Hospital, “Lack of sleep can negatively impact crucial physical and mental development. It can lead to serious health issues, such as obesity and type-2 diabetes. Poor sleep contributes to diminished mental health, depression, anxiety, accidents, ADHD and ADD, behavior problems, and unsatisfactory academic performance.”

According to Tuesday Glenn, sleep technologist at LeBonheurs, our growth hormone is released during sleep. So lack of sleep can affect our general growth, not only their bodies, but their brains.”

All of these effects caused by not getting a healthy amount of sleep can be dangerous for children and teenagers. These problems will lead to sleep deprivation or insomnia, making the effects worse, which can cause lethal things to happen.

Going back to the melatonin topic. As shown in the graph below done by ScienceDirect shows that from the ages of 5-10, about 180 ml of melatonin is released every night. On the other hand, there is a 38.89% decrease in the melatonin produced as people turn 15 and older.

Some people might find this overwhelming, and very stressful for their life, but what are some ways to help this?

1.  Get an orange night light.

The color orange is known to block out blue light. Blue light blocks the production of melatonin, and with orange light blocking the blue out, it can make you fall asleep faster.

2.  Take melatonin supplements.

You could talk to a doctor or parent about using melatonin supplements for your own good, but be sure to take a certain amount of it. Having too many supplements can cause lethal effects in some cases.

3. Talk to someone about it

Some diseases can cause insomnia or sleep deprivation, it would be better to find out what’s going on other than let it stay and get worse.

Clothing Trends

Adrielle Hidalgo (5th Grade)

There are many trends out there, but one of the most iconic ones in today’s fashion is Uggs. Many people are wearing Uggs because it can make an outfit look cute and still keep you very comfy. Another clothing trend is flared leggings and jeanns, they can be a great option to make an outfit have more shape. Sambas are also becoming very popular in the clothing industry because of its way to make an outfit seem put together. Off the shoulder T - shirts are also a great way to customize a shirt because it can make an outfit more comfortable and light. Baggy jeans are also a great way to style an outfit, it makes the outfit look effortless and it can be more loose-fitting for others. Camo hoodies are becoming more and more popular as they can make an outfit comfortable and still look cute. Low-rise sweatpants are becoming very popular, not only because it looks good, but it is comfy too. Some people may have different opinions on these clothing trends which is perfectly fine.