Stress city: College entrance test coming up

Kelly, Student (Senior) —

I have a super important college entrance test coming up in 11 days. It tests us on 5 subjects plus an essay. I'm really stressed, especially regarding one subject and the essay. This test is extremely important. What should I do?

Clare —

Hey there Kelly,

Thanks so much for your question. I'm sorry to hear you're so stressed out.

I've got a few ideas for you to think about:

• What topics do you need to cover before the exam — write them down and focus on the most important ones that are worth the most marks.

• Try and pinpoint what exactly is making you stressed — is it that you feel like you don't have time to study everything? Is it that you don't know where to start? Is it that you are confused about something? You need to understand what is stressing you out so that you can focus on fixing that specific problem.

• Make time to do practice questions and practice essays — do as many as you can.

• Make a study schedule for the next week and try to stick to it — this way if you follow the plan you will be as ready for the exam as possible.

I'll leave it there for now Kelly — don't want to bombard you with too many ideas. Let me know if you have any other questions or want me to elaborate on anything. More than happy to talk through specific problems.

Best of luck — I'm sure you'll do great. Hang in there.

Clare