How does the brain choose what to throw out and what to reinforce? Use it or lose it. Those connections that underlie skills and abilities must be constantly tested and practiced during one’s teenage years.
Between navigating the insanely complicated rules of a high school social hierarchy and juggling the workload of a multiplicity of teachers who all truly believe that their class is the most important, high school is a confusing time for students.
To reduce additional stress and frustration, students should think about studying over the summer and getting ahead in their work. This would allow them a less stressful school year.
The school year is full of immense academic, athletic, and social pressure. Whether it is an upcoming homework assignment or the next “huge test,” students find themselves forced to learn enormous amounts of information over a very short period of time.
Many times, learning the information for the exams requires more time than is given to the students. Students often feel that there are not enough hours in the day to complete all of their work.
Many Schreiber students are sleep deprived and stay up into the early morning hours to complete their school assignments.
Used up off-periods, skipped lunch time, and late night studying are only a few consequences of the massive workload. This stress has a detrimental effect on students’ well-being.
Students rarely have the time to fully study the information that is tested on both the SAT and ACT; however, time is necessary.
Doing school related work over the summer would help relieve much of the stress.
“Studying over the summer is very beneficial,” said sophomore Ariel Waldman. “You can work at your own pace and not have to worry about all the homework and tests”
Besides the frequent quizzes and unit tests, a major cause of school time stress are the various standardized tests and college board exams. Tests such as the SATs have become increasingly important in the college admission process.
Although the majority of students take these examinations immediately after completing a course, some choose to take them after the summer. This extra time allows students who struggled with an overwhelming courseload to focus all of their efforts on one or two specific subjects.
Besides buying valuable time, the summer allows students to designate a large amount of uninterrupted time specifically for test preparations.
“Studying during the summer is a great way to get ahead,” said junior Abigail Harari. “Summer is relatively free of school work.”
By preparing during this time, students will be able to minimize the stress of studying for the SATs and ACTs during the school year.
“You have so much free time and very few things that can stress you out,” said sophmore Hayley Sambursky. “Instead of cramming in a lot of information over a short span of time you have the entire summer to spread out the work.”
Although there is no way to completely eliminate some amount of stress during the school year, using the summer as extra study time can significantly diminish this stress.
Students would be able to get the College Board exams out of the way early in the year with such an approach. When these tests are looming over students’ heads, it distracts them from being able to focus fully on their coursework.
Studying for these tests over the summer would allow students to focus on the local tests without the weight of an intensive test on their shoulders.
The summer provides students with the perfect opportunity to focus on studying for their various standardized tests, without the demanding pressures of a hectic school schedule.
Summer break allows students to return to school prepared for their exams.