The ACT is upon us. After years of education, months of studying, and days of peak anxiousness, it is time for juniors to showcase what they have retained. The knowledge they have grown over the years, according to flawed expectations, is defined by a standardized test and summarizes the student’s education as a whole. However, teachers have tried to instill the principle that tests cannot accurately measure what a student knows. In replacement of the fear that a student will not score well, they should rest in their effort from the past few months.
Instead of last minute studying techniques, there are some more practical ways to set yourself up for success. In a study authored by G. Curcio et al, the evaluations concluded that, “Results from studies investigating the effects of different sleep patterns and schedules on academic performance showed that students who sleep poorly, with an elevated sleep fragmentation (i.e., reduced sleep quality), with later bedtimes and early awakenings, usually tend to offer a decreased academic performance and a reduced neurobehavioural functioning.” Sleep is a natural process that recharges your brain and produces a healthy environment for your thoughts. In addition to sleep, our thoughts flourish with the right food.
The saying, “you are what you eat” is not completely false. As Fernando Gómez-Pinilla of the National Institutes of Health acknowledged, “In contrast to the healthy effects of diets that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, epidemiological studies indicate that diets with high contents of trans and saturated fats adversely affect cognition.” What students consume both in knowledge and nutrition influence their academic evaluation and on testing days it is vital to feed the brain for peak performance. Whether it is the night before testing or the morning of, including a healthy meal will lessen the load on your brain.
In order to provide the best advice for juniors, The Paw Press asked a senior that received a 36 on the ACT. Luke Hyden encouraged students saying, “Don’t stress too much; it’s just a number. Take it slow and don’t be afraid to come back to questions, and it’ll all work out.” As juniors learned in their ACT class, the test is one of strategy. It is easy to let the worries of the test envelope our thoughts, but it is when we break down the ACT that we can take the test instead of letting the test take us.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2805706/pdf/nihms162299.pdf
