Advice, from a Man. (This May Just be Mansplaining?™)

Many of you may have given up hope for the exams. Many more of you are dreading them. And all of you have to take at least one. I am not exempt from this institution as well. You may place us here at KNN as “above the crowd” and “unrelatable” but even our humble CEO has to take a moment, or several hours over the course of 4 days, to take her final exams. Success in these exams can dramatically boost your semester grade, and failure can ruin it. But why contemplate failure, when success is on the other end of the horizon? I know it seems all too close and yet too far at the same time, but take a moment, breathe, and plan. Planning may seem like work, but for me at least, planning out what I need to work on in the future is much easier than planning what to work on right now. So schedule, coordinate, study, research, build, acquire. Do everything you need to get the best possible version of your future you do it. This may seem like a lot, and trust me it might just be, but try to take it in stride. Do not worry about the future nor the past, just think about the intended goal and reach for it. And if you need to take a moment to cry, stare at the ceiling while listening to sad songs, or whatever you do to let out those feelings, just know that that is okay too.

Anecdotal Advice

I ain’t got none. Well, maybe I do. You see the way my brain works is that it makes me fear the future, so I hate planning for it, and immensely regret the past, which makes me try not to focus on it, which does not work all too well. And where does that leave us? The present, says it's a gift but really it's a trap in disguise. Stress just passes over me and makes me want to procrastinate very hard. Before writing this I finished citing 3 sources for an assignment that was due the next day. How long had I had to work on it? About a month. How long did it take me to finish it? Over the course of 2 early evenings, about 3.5-4 hours, maybe more. The point is, stuff sucks, stuff takes forever to do even when it seems simple like MLA format, and stuff needs to get done. I personally have not waited until the night it was due, at least intentionally, to get an assignment done since maybe middle school. This didn't happen fully consciously, but it's a nice barrier for my mind to have, seemingly impenetrable to the forces of procrastination. Barriers like these, which follow whatever your moral, intellectual, or other such codes or ideas or guidelines, are important to maintain how you should format your schedule, your work, and even your rest. 

-Austin

Exam season is one of the most dreadful things for High School students, and sadly, I get to experience this as a Middle School student who’s taking High School credit classes. It's definitely a time where you can get overwhelmed easily and there's definitely the feeling of pressure on you as you either prepare for these tests or even take them. It’s a time that tests not only a student's academic skills but also one’s anxiety tolerance.

As for me and my friend group, we seem rather together throughout this season as well as the actual school drama. So for this week or so, I would say good luck to everyone. Take care of yourself, eat well, drink water, and get at least 5 hours of sleep.

-Charlotte