Exams can be overwhelming and cause stress within students. With six classes to study for, students are swamped with study guides and material from the past semester, trying to remember everything in a short period of time. More study time put in, however, can help relieve this stress. Teachers and students give their exam studying tips to help others succeed below.

“Students should be studying probably about six hours per exam, but they’re getting a lot of that time already. We have an hour and a half built-in in terms of studying for exams, so now if you do an average of four and a half hours, spread that out over four days, you’re not looking at a lot of time per day. I have three and a half hours built in and I’m sure other classes have more than just that study day built in. If you use the time in class to prepare for the exam, you’re getting that study time; it’s not hard to get to six hours.” -math teacher Steven Karr

“Make sure to actually study if you need to and for more than just a few minutes. Also get a lot of sleep, it’s hard to focus when you’re really tired. I find listening to Orchestra music helps me personally because I don’t get distracted by lyrics. I do it in my room with little to no distractions, my phone is just for music and I don’t check it often.” – senior Jasmine Reyes

“Don’t waste time focusing on the stuff that is recent in your memory or that you are already good at. It’s good to refresh on those topics, but it shouldn’t be your focus. Anything that seems unfamiliar, go through read through the assignment and try a couple of problems to jog your memory. Any guidance that your teacher gives you is usually very valuable because they know what will be on the exam, so definitely focus on whatever they give you. Sometimes it helps to write a page of notes summarizing the important things from the semester.” -senior Megan Beemer

“I’d say that it’s really beneficial to organize a time with friends to study or participate in a study session with others at Panera, Starbucks, etc. For me, I feel as though the time spent studying with others helps me better understand the material as people are available to help you out and to correct answers with you. I usually study in a distraction-free environment and oftentimes leave my phone elsewhere, allowing me to focus on the task at hand more effectively. I also tend to take short breaks after moderate stretches of studying to allow for myself to decompress a bit and clear my mind.” -junior Graham Funke

“I see students making flashcards or playing quizlet games. I think it helps them as far as knowing the terms but the second part is do you know what to do with them or did you just memorize a bunch of words? It’s good to study with family or friends to quiz you and to have someone who also understands the material talking with you about it and bounce things off of because in my class, for example, we work a lot with ideas and concepts as well. It’s more than just memorizing.” -International Baccalaureate Literature teacher Heather Mulligan