By Jocelyn Tolpin

It seems like only yesterday that we first walked in through the front doors on the newly polished tile floors. We hugged our friends that we hadn’t seen in a long time, said hello to our old teachers, and began our new classes for a new year. In a flash 4 months have passed and we have to face reality because we’ve got so little time until one of the most important tests of the school year. Something that has been creeping behind us all this time and finally hit us from behind: Exams.

Exams seem so intimidating from where we stand now. Many students are scared for exams because they could make or break your grade and there isn’t enough time to prepare for the exams. There are maybe one or two review periods, but that’s all. There is too much material to shove into one or two hours of review. Natalie Sonkin in the 7^th grade is taking her first exams. She is very intimidated by them. She said to me when I asked her what in particular she was intimidated of she responded to me that she is intimidated of the lack of time to study for the exam and that there is so much material to cover.

Many students in the middle school are taking exams for the first time this year. Seventh graders are very nervous for their exams but on the contrary, a few sixth grade students who are taking a math exam are not at all. I asked one of these sixth grade students, Anish Nuni, if he ever felt any pressure because he was younger. He responded saying because he was younger, he felt less pressure. He says even if he fails and it booted out of the class, he’ll still be ahead of other students while eighth grade students in his class have to worry about placement in high school.

An interesting pattern emerged when I was interviewing middle school students. Middle school students are more intimidated by the English exam than they are of the math exam. They say they are more intimidated by the English exam because there is such a wide spectrum of topics that can be on the English exam. Also, the English exam calls for more critical thinking rather than memorizing the facts and many students prefer to memorize the facts. Some students are more fearful for the English exam because they only appear once every three years. Many students are nervous about the essay they have to write for the exam. Because the essay is for English, it has to be well-written and thoughtful, but they say that it is hard to write a good essay in only an hour.

The exams have stressed many, many middle school students. The only students they haven’t stressed maybe the sixth graders and Peter Lu who says that there is too much else to worry about. There is a solution to all of this, however. After speaking with a few teachers and being given advice on studying, I’ve learned what it takes to study for an exam. I’ve come up with a routine that hasn’t failed me yet. Over the term, I collect assessments, assignments, and notes that could be important for the exam. When it comes time to start studying I review my notes and then meet with my teachers to ask them to fill in any blanks. In the end, I work together with a few classmates to make study guides and notecards to minimize our papers and to highlight important information. So look through your binders and dig up information, meet with your teachers, and study study study because somewhere out there, there’s a blue book with your name on it.