1. Music: We all need to chill out after a test with our favorite playlists.
Click here for this week’s 8track.
2. Plenty-o-pencils: Always be prepared with a new, sharp pencil. With new imaging technology, scantrons are now able to detect anything from printer toner, to crayon. despite what your teachers will tell you, no. 2 pencils may not be the best way to mark your form. The new machines (like the one we just got) detect darkness and density of marked answers, so you might be better off answering your exam in pen, although, that eliminates the possibility of changing your answers later. On another note, no matter what you’ve heard, chap-sticking your scantron will not disable the machine from marking incorrect answers, it will only result in a zero on your final. Don’t try to be sneaky; teachers are on the lookout for tests with greasy edges.
3. Educated Guessing Skills: When in doubt, choose B. At least statistically, on multiple choice tests with five possible choices, B, C, and D are the most common answers. After that, if you can narrow it down, you improve your chances at guessing correctly every time. On true and false questions, limiting extremes like, “never, always, will not” usually indicate a false statement, whereas general terms like, “some, most, could, might” often mean a true one.
4. Food (and coffee): Cram all night with coffee. Eat a big breakfast, and knock ’em dead! Meats, eggs, starches, and fruits make the best exam day breakfasts. Meats and eggs are full of protein which, combined with complex carbs from starches, provide you with the energy you need to get through those tests. Fructose, the sugars found in fruits, wont spike your blood sugar, so you won’t crash during that last exam.
5. Plans: Escape school stress, do something fun Friday night!