Getting a 5 on the AP Homework exam

Do you get homework? Yes, it's a rhetorical question. Whether it's the next set of math practice problems or that English research paper you've been pushing back for weeks, homework has manifested itself firmly in the quotidian lives of students, a fact that however much we want, we cannot deny. And it's not going anywhere. No, I'm not here to rant about how homework is a completely useless use of time. I don't have the ego or the energy to challenge decades' worth of teaching practices and dogma. We all know what the result will be in Goyal vs. the World Education System. Not good.

With the boatload of assignments I get from my 4 AP courses, I have begun to consider homework as another AP course with its own AP exam - one which actually lasts the entire school year. In my opinion, AP Homework is probably the most important of all courses because it truly gauges your college readiness. If you can handle the load, you are good to go, but if you are having trouble, you better step up your game if you want to enjoy your college years.

The trouble with AP Homework is that you are all alone, left to stumble through a long, winding, rocky tunnel with no ray of hope in sight. You must dance with due dates, break through low printer ink errors, circumvent paper shortages, and overcome many more challenges in the process of doing your homework. In my painful journey, I have learned a few key lessons about what - and what not - to do when doing homework. You have likely heard most of them, but it doesn't hurt to get a refresher.

DO:

• Start it early. I know we all just want to flop down on the couch with a snack and the TV remote as soon as we get home. Perhaps take a "quick" nap. After all, you've just spent the last 6 hours or so endlessly toiling. But cut that break short and get started early. Aim for a starting time of 5 (PM, not AM) at the latest. Trust me, it'll save you a ton of stress later on when you are actually able to get to bed before midnight. Also, teachers know what they are doing, and there is a reason they give you multiple weeks to do major assignments. Start these early as well and work steadily on them so that you don't overwhelm yourself the day before they are due.
• Use your planner. The school paid thousands of dollars to get these for a purpose. When you get free stuff paid for by taxpayer money, you use it. Keep track of your assignments by recording them in your planners during each class. I stopped using my planner for a while this year, and my homework grades plummeted drastically due to missing work that I had forgotten about.
• Prioritize the hard things first. Tackle the most challenging assignment first, when your mind is the freshest. The temptation of the easy work may be difficult to endure but you must resist. Getting the difficult part out of the way first leads to a quick and satisfying sprint to the finish. This strategy also forces you to deal with the important assignments first so that you don't push them back.
• Form a routine. Create a pattern that you like. Find a groove that works for you and stick with it. If you like to go for a run after coming home and before starting homework, make it a habit. If you have dinner at 7, make space for that in your homework schedule and plan around it. Keep your starting time consistent. Soon you'll be churning out homework without missing a beat like an assembly line in a factory.
• Take breaks. Unfortunately, no cure for mental fatigue has been discovered yet. So you WILL get tired. To keep yourself from completely frying your brain cells, take small breaks at regular intervals. Watch an episode on TV or take a short nap, anything to give yourself a little time to rest and recharge. Breaks are key to tackling lengthy assignments .

DO NOT:

• DO NOT PROCRASTINATE! This devilish act is the bane of success, and I figured this out the hard way. Don't procrastinate your homework! Procrastinate procrastination! Save procrastination for later; do it tomorrow! Don't let it screw up your schedule and routine. Once it becomes a habit, it is very difficult to let go, and you'll find yourself scrambling to put together something that barely resembles homework the period before it's due.
• Do not touch your bed. YOU WILL FALL ASLEEP. Trust me. Despite my hardest efforts to stay awake, I have fallen asleep while working on my bed countless times. Even entering the proximity of a soft, flat, comfortable surface can prove disastrous. Multiple times, I've caught myself zoning out while working, subconsciously randomly laying down on my bed, and just falling asleep.
• Do not get distracted. Yes, I'm talking directly to you, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and YouTube addicts! Close that laptop and concentrate your full attention on your homework. The world will not explode if you don't check that Facebook notification, and live-tweeting your homework is just lame. In addition, don't get lost surfing on the treacherous seas of the internet. Time is of the essence. If you are having particular trouble with this, consider downloading one of those programs that bans access to Facebook and such for a set amount of time. Or go hardcore and just cut your internet connection. Both work.
• Do not take a nap without an alarm. Alarms are friends, however loud and obnoxious they are. They form a safety net that prohibits you from falling asleep for extended periods of time. Without an alarm, a "nap" turns into a deep slumber, and unless you like to spend the next day of school trying to finish homework in class, you will kick yourself.  

Unfortunately, homework is here to stay, here to taunt us and stress us and overwhelm us and turn us into fatigued zombies white from the lack of exposure to the sun in the hope that we will someday soon learn the importance of responsibility and time management. The magic has worked on me only recently. I revamped my horrible homework routine this January and it's been working! Hopefully I can maintain this momentum as I head towards senior year.

In the spirit of the AP Exam season, give yourself a score on your AP Homework exam.  Think you got a 5? Awesome! You are on your way to a successful college career. Making do with a 4 or a 3? Not bad. There's room for improvement! Hopefully none of you are failing in this department (cough*seniors*cough).

I hope these tips help you get a better score on the AP Homework test! Additional tips (from the consummate College Board) can be found here.

If you would like to share tips and strategies you use at home, feel free to contact me via email by clicking here or by leaving a comment below. Thanks for reading!

-Raghav

Test Taking: The Heart of Our Living Nightmares and Ways to Face Them

This is the sight we get to see for 1-3 hours when we face the arduous 

task of taking a test.

If you ask any junior or senior in High school what one thing they hate most about the final ventures towards heading to college, the most common answer would tests. Juniors and Seniors are faced with test after test after test and it just never seems to end.

This topic is being brought up because as the 2012-2013 school year is coming to a close, AP Exams are starting to take place. As most students know, AP Exams are college courses that require a large and taxing exam to be taken at the end of the year, and if a good enough score is reached than that student may be able to opt out of that specific class in the college they attend. So yeah, these exams are a big deal. However, at the same time, many students (Juniors mostly) are also taking their SAT's, ACT's, SAT Subject Tests, and any other application or test related requirements they may have. Overall, the end of the school year is filled with testing, testing, testing, and then some more testing. 

I personally have my AP Lang Exam coming up this week and an APUSH Exam next week, along with an SAT on June 1, and I haven't even signed up for any ACT or SAT Subjects Tests yet, so I still have those to look forward to. I am sure that other Juniors feel my pain when it comes to all the things we must do in the next couple months before senior year gets up and running. Some people may deal with test taking better than others, but for the most part they are incredibly stressful and lead to the factors we all know so well: lack of sleep, over eating (or under eating), and near mental breakdowns at the sheer thought of all the things needed to be done. 

This is the expression we are all familiar
with, the "Ugh, what is going on?" face.

During times like these, we all try to find ways to deal with the said stress and difficulty testing brings into our lives. Some people take unique methods of loosening their tensions, but there are some more conventional ways that do help the majority of people loosen the grasps of the stress from school. I will list things that I have found to help me, but other sources do say similar things such as the one here.

But nevertheless, here are 3 tips/ways I have found to be helpful in dealing with the absolute nightmare of test taking.

1. Talk to your teacher - I am always surprised at the sheer amount of people who let this idea blow over them. Your teachers are there to help you, so let them help you. If you feel seriously unprepared for an exam or test, then ask your teacher for some extra help to clear up any uncertainties you have, and who knows, you may even be able to get an extension. Your teachers are people too and can totally understand if you feel stressed out about something in their class, so don't feel ashamed to ask them about it.

2. Relax - This one seems redundant, but im serious when I say all you need to do is stop freaking yourself out. You may be thinking, "Well, if I could do that then this wouldn't be a problem?", and you're right, it wouldn't be a problem, which is why you need to relax. If it's listening to music, watching your favorite show on Netflix, or playing some good ole' video games, whatever you need to do to take your mind off that dreaded test is what needs to be done. Over thinking and psyching yourself out about it can be the ultimate downfall for some people. 

3. Have confidence - This one may be hard because tests and school in general are so emotionally and mentally draining, but ultimately, having confidence when going into a test makes all the difference. If you think you are going to fail, then you're going to take the test knowing you're going to fail, a mindset which doesn't help out a whole lot. If you tell yourself, "I will beat that test", even if you may be totally unprepared, you will take it with a stronger mindset. And anyways, for the most part, the worst thing that could happen is you don't get a good score (and you can retake SAT's and ACT's as much as you want). Way too many people do not have enough faith in themselves to face these kinds of things. You are undoubtedly smart enough and don't let any person, test, or aspect of society tell you otherwise. Think it and you will do it. 

I hope these three points helped you make some sort of realization about something you need to change to help yourself with any upcoming tests or anything that you are worried about. Again, the website here probably compiles better tips, but these are the three things I have compiled through my own experiences to help myself through these trying times. 

If you have any tips of your own that you wish to aid in the benefit towards preserving other people's mental health, email me at jackdominick@gmail.com, or just leave a comment with anything you wish to say.

Thank you for reading and I wish you well on all your future endeavors,

-Jack