As many may know, it is time for juniors to begin their state tests before heading to senior year. And as a junior taking one of those tests, it is quite the unpleasant experience. To start off, we have to sit in a room for at least 2 hours at a time while testing on material we have not seen since freshman year. And if you’re like me who can’t even remember how to long divide, it’s a struggle. The tests themselves can also be 20, sometimes 40, questions that take about an hour and a half to complete. This weeks’ test agenda focused on English, but next week is math, which is bad because math is probably one of my worst subjects. Especially under the pressure of time which is another thing I’d like to mention. Many teens, like me, perform pretty poorly under pressure. Resulting in lower test scores and a false record of our knowledge. Which is why I’m an advocate for eliminating state tests, especially since most colleges don’t even use them anymore. But that probably won’t happen while I’m still in school which kind of sucks but it might make way for future generations. Now this is just my overall opinion. Many people could find testing a lot easier then other assignments. I’m just not one of those people and that’s fine. Some methods I’ve used to help with testing have been going to sleep earlier and trying to eat breakfast. They help boost my energy a bit more in the day which is very important right now. That’s about all the advice I can give to my peers right now, but I really wouldn’t waste energy on studying per se. It’s very hard to study everything we’ve learned in 3 years so don’t focus on that. And water, drink some water, it won’t kill you.