I've worked my brains to mush for the past several weeks. I've read the books. Flipped through more flash cards than I care to remember. Played the review iPhone App games. Made a playlist on my iPod designed specifically to get me pumped in the morning. And it's finally here. All of this work, and now it's the night before. I don't know whether to go to bed early and get a good night's rest, or cram all night. Looking back, it seems silly to me. Devoting my life for a span of three weeks all just to fill in a bunch of bubbles in a specific pattern tomorrow morning. To be able to string together sentences to craft an essay that will impress the college board. Eighty multiple choice questions. Three comprehensive essays. Three hours. Just ten measly hours away.
Keeping my promise to my Dad, I will not be staying up late to make this a long blog entry, or to cram some last minute U.S. history facts into my head. For those of you who haven't read my previous posts, tomorrow marks the day of my first AP (Advanced Placement) test of my high school career. The question among my fellow classmates all of today was: "are you ready?!" This would earn the response of a frantic "NO!" almost every time. Tests that have so much weight upon them are stressful for everyone. Whether it's make or break it for a grade or for college credit, it's something that will make anyone anxious. But it's time to stop being anxious.
Time to stop feeling sorry for myself that I have to take it while many of my classmates chose not to. Time to gain confidence in what I'm about to do. I've prepared for weeks. Read the books. Even memorized the Nickelodeon presidents song. I can do this, as can my fellow classmates that have worked just as hard or even harder than I have. We're intelligent students who can take on what we're about to experience. It may not be the most pleasant three hours of our lives, but the time will pass, and in a measly fifteen hours or so, it will all be a thing of the past. Nothing I can do to change it, and we can all take a collective sigh of relief. A sigh that will mark the end of something to be proud of. I know that I did all I could to prepare for this test. If I don't score well, while I won't be happy, it won't be the end of the world. For now, all I've got one mentality: I'm going to do my best, take the test one step at a time, and know that no matter what the paper with my results that will come in July say, I did awesome, and no one can change that.
My personal favorite technique to gain confidence:
AP US History kids...what are we gonna do? I'm gonna tell you what we're gonna do, we're going to kill this test. We've said a thousand times over the past weeks that this test is going to kill us. No, no, no, say it with me this time. What are we going to do....KILL THIS TEST! Exactly, so let's put the books away. Close the box with your thousands of flash cards. And have confidence. We can do this.
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