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It’s a deadly disease that hits seniors in the spring every year. It’s highly infectious and there are some fatal cases. Some seniors never make it out alive… I have senioritis SO BAD. I don’t even know what happened to me.
Classic symptoms are : Procrastination of epic proportions, Apathy, Lack of Motivation, Narcolepsy, Overconfidence in the kindness of your teachers, and Truancy.
Are you about to tear your hair out because of finals? Do you wake up in the middle of the night with an anxiety attack, gripping your math textbook because you really need to pass this semester? Well you are not alone! Here are a few tips to keep the stress level down and prepare for finals.
1. TRY NOT TO FREAK OUT
I know it seems really hard sometimes when your entire grade, life and future are riding on that ONE test, but seriously try to STAY CALM. Finals are super high pressure, but panicking and over-thinking the test will not help you study at all. You need to sit down, take it slow and turn that nervous energy into productivity.
2. DON’T PROCRASTINATE
Everyone’s guilty of it, don’t even try to deny. Get off facebook and stop skyping your friends who are procrastinating. You just need to FOCUS. Start early so you don’t have to last minute cram and you can absorb more information into your brain. Plan ahead and have a study schedule.
3. GET INTO YOUR ZONE
Find a place that you feel comfortable studying in… but not too comfortable. It is never a good idea to study on your bed with a heated blanket. But try to find a room where you can study without being distracted. Put on your dubstep and try to get into your zone where you can really concentrate.
-Also a note about study groups: Sometimes they are really effective, but sometimes they suck up a kajillion hours and lead to other activities such as baking cookies, climbing walls and singing karaoke. In my experience, study parties NEVER work and it’s always my friends’ fault… mostly. But overall, they are a terrible idea if you expect to get anything done.
4. TALK TO YOUR TEACHERS
You need to communicate with your teachers and ask them what you should expect. You can get all the help you need from a teacher. Ask for a study guide, ask for clarification on a problem. They want you to succeed, so talk to them. If you know what to expect on the final, it can be a lot less stressful.
5. STUDY YOUR NOTES
Don’t try to read the whole textbook before your final. A lot of the new, detailed information you won’t need anyways, and probably won’t remember the next day. Instead, look back at chapter summaries and your notes, and try to create a study guide with all the basic concepts that you’ve learned this semester.
6. GET SOME SLEEP
Put the books down, put on the PJ’s and crawl into bed – without your physics book! Trust me, it is way more worth it to get a little sleep, like 5 hours at least, than cram for an extra two hours, show up to school with craters underneath your eyes and have a sleep deprived eye twitch the whole day. This is currently happening to me, which is bad because I need to see out of both eyes. It is better to get a couple hours more sleep that try to memorize anymore.
7. TAKE TIME TO RELAX
Take time to do something for yourself. Human beings can’t study all the time 24/7 because we are not robots. Make sure to take care of yourself and your body and not burn yourself out. Eat healthy meals. Try not to drink too much caffeine. Take a bubble bath. But this is relaxing time – don’t turn it into procrastinating time. There is a very fine line, so set a time limit on your study breaks.
I hope this was helpful you hardworking high schoolers. Good luck!
Hi Everyone
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The Youthliners
Do you ever argue with your parents? Most teens do. But a new article puts a positive spin on this phenomenon, suggesting that arguing can bolster a teen’s ability to resist peer pressure by teaching them how to disagree and stand up for their opinion. So if you’re dreading a fight over curfew, grades, chores, or something else, don’t stress! It might help you down the line.
Well, what the heck is that? CARSA stands for Community Action to Reduce Substance Abuse. Basically, it’s a bunch of important community members who come together twice or three times a year who are working to reduce substance abuse in Oregon. One of the most important people who spoke today was Dwight Holton, the former US Attorney for Oregon. He was the man behind the Prescription Drug (Rx) Summits in Oregon (the link to the summit’s page is at the bottom of the page). The Rx Summits had one goal: To reduce prescription drug abuse among teens. Rx drugs are one of the most widely used drugs, and are also a gateway drug to more “serious” drugs such as heroine and meth. Oxycodone, Adderall, and Vicodin may seem harmless, but they can quickly become addictive. Cheery, right?
Anyways, I was one of the youth representatives who went with Kovi to help her talk about our Rx Campaign. YAC created several PSA’s and posters to raise awareness about prescription drug abuse, and we were asked to share them at CARSA. We also got to hear about a huge grant that the tri-county area (Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas) received to help reduce substance abuse. Finally, Mike Boyer, a police department representative, talked about the latest liquor control laws that are being passed to help limit public intoxication in downtown.
All and all, CARSA was a great experience that gave me a ton of ideas to apply to my school, my life, and other projects I’d like to see happen here at OP. Mr. Howser gave me some great advice I thought I’d share with you (paraphrased, of course): The way to make things happen and to get stuff done is through connections. The more people you know and the more people you have on your side, the easier it is to accomplish the seemingly impossible. Everything is a group effort.
Resources:
The Rx Summit:
http://oregonrxsummit.org/
The YAC Rx Media Campaign:
http://oregonrxsummit.org/media/
A video of some YAC-ers speaking at one of the Rx Summits:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9WZ_zx8Mic&feature=autoshare
Happy Holidays!
A. Youth-Liner
P.S. Please subscribe to the Oregon Partnership Youthlink’s YouTube Channel! keep up to date with our projects with cool videos! Subscribe button is at the top of the page on the video above. Thanks!
Have you been feeling down because of the COLD COLD winter weather?
Have you been stressed out because of school, your parents on your back, drama with your friends and tons more?
Do you need a pick-me-up?
Or do you just want to see really really adorable things? Yes you do!!
It’s a BABY POLAR BEAR being TICKLED!!!!!
I like to take naps! Food makes me happy!!
I love cats so much. They are amazing.
I hope you felt much better after that!