It’s May. You open YouTube, and your page is flooded with reminders that exams are coming up and you should probably get a head start on studying. Your Recommended section is filled with “Productive day in the life!” and “Study with me” videos. 

So, you gather your textbook, notebook and all the highlighters you can find and sit down. But this page of the textbook looks unfamiliar. This section of the textbook looks unfamiliar. In fact, the entire textbook seems unfamiliar.

Granted, you had to search the depths of your room for that book and you might have only read it in August and September when you told yourself you would keep up with your class work. But you only scroll on your phone during class for five minutes, so surely you couldn’t have missed this much.  

But turns out, you have.

Oh well, what can you do? Guess you’ll just have to study 50% of the entire course curriculum in a couple weeks. Don’t stress, make a list and stick to it – in style.

1. Get an overpriced review book that covers topics you probably won’t even see on the exam.
2. Absorb as many chapters as you can. Highlight the important stuff. Color code, put neon sticky tabs everywhere and do professional calligraphy on every other page when you annotate.
3. Find Quizlets online that somewhat align with what you’re studying since you are too lazy to make your own.
4. Make a TikTok about it. Be sure to add some overplayed indie song in the background.

Now you must stick to this list. Nobody cares if it is hard; nobody cares that all your tests were open-note and untimed and you have to prepare for a test that is exactly the opposite; nobody cares that you procrastinated for three weeks and your exam is a week away. What matters is the variety of Midliner highlighters you own and how much washi tape you add to your flashcards.

Sure, your friends are taking practice tests and watching review videos, but who really needs those? At the end of the day, neatness and cuteness will get you some type of credit on your free response questions (right?). Just follow the mentality: “If my notes are nice enough, I’ll want to look at them more and study more.” 

You did this last year. Reach back into the dusty memories of pre-COVID-19 and pull them out. You can’t find them? Well, it’s two days before the exam, your practice book is still in its Amazon shipping box, and you don’t even understand half of the videos on YouTube. 

Is the college credit even worth it?

Follow Shreya (@BeldonaShreya) and @CHSCampusNews on Twitter.