Students often come to me frustrated by their test scores. They explain that even when they do spend hours reviewing their notes and their textbook before an exam, it doesn’t matter. Their scores don’t improve.
I’m sympathetic. Retaining information is difficult and tests are stressful. It’s been over a decade since I was a high school student, and I still occasionally have unpleasant dreams in which I show up for a math midterm completely unprepared.
Getting enough sleep can be a challenge for anyone, but it is especially difficult for teenagers.
In fact, the roughly 9 in 10 adolescents fail to get enough sleep. There are many reasons for this shortfall, including early school start times, extracurricular commitments, and excessive screen time.
As a college counselor, I probably get more questions about the SAT and ACT than any other topic. Which makes sense. After all, there are a lot of factors that students have to consider when it comes to standardized testing, from deciding on a test to selecting a specific date to take it. Understandably, a lot of students feel a fair amount of apprehension over this process (I know I did when I was in high school).
