Rishab's Best Test Taking Tips from High School

Today, I want to give you some of my best test-taking tips from high school. I'm not the best test-taker in the world, but I'd say I'm pretty good -- and over the years, I've racked up some techniques that I think will be especially helpful for some of the freshmen and sophomores here.

ACT/SAT: Just take practice tests. Sit in a quiet room, time yourself, and pretend as if it's the real test. You will improve your score just by understanding the tempo and flow of the test, without actually "learning" material.

AP: For AP classes, just get a "steps to a 5" book close to your test. If you complete this book (can grind through it in about a week), you should be locked in for a 5. This allowed me to prioritize research and extracurriculars during the school year, and quickly grind in the few days after ISEF for each of my AP tests.

Study rules:

1. Be well-fed. Get good food and make sure you're "full" before doing long study sessions. Helps you get in "deep work" mode.

2. Be in a completely separate room when you're studying.

3. If you procrastinate or waste 5 hours, it doesn't mean you should waste the next 1-2. Stop feeling bad for yourself- just reset (drink water, shower, etc.) and start working again with real effort.

Testing rules:

1. Before important tests, take a cold shower. You will shock yourself awake if you were tired, and you will calm yourself down if you were nervous.

2. Use later questions in a test to help you guess answers for earlier questions.

3. When trying to figure out an answer, ask yourself "what concept is my teacher trying to test here" -- and based on that, you can figure out the answer that makes more sense.

Deep Work by Cal Newport. Reading this book was super relatable for me. Rather than working 40 hours of 50% effort, I personally work 10 hours at 100% effort. This lets me also do extracurriculars, other academics, and spend time with friends. If you can get into "deep work mode", it's a gamechanger- you'll learn to enjoy the feeling of work and it'll let you succeed in school, competitions, anything really.

Last tip - never compare yourself. You're YOU. In the grand scheme of things, nothing really matters. Your grades in school, mistakes you've made, etc. They all don't matter.

🔥 Please let me know what you think in the comments down below! Would love to hear from you. 🔥

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