Now that we’re in the middle of a stressful exam week people look at the best students of their grade and think. How they do it? Do they get stress usually? What can I do to improve my grades? Well, they don’t have magic or  a secret for success, but maybe we can learn something from them.

The Talon decided to interview some of these great students and see what their study habits are. Who knows maybe you can get some good advice from them.

Here are the answers from two of our top seniors:

How much time do you usually spend studying?

Anna Tavormina: 3-4 hours

Ben Holmes:  2-3 hours

How do you normally organize your week?

Anna:  I do my best to do homework the day it’s assigned and I try to not leave big projects until the end.  Easy homework on Saturday and major work on Sunday

Ben:  Usually do it the night of, 2-3 days ahead for tests, Sunday on weekends

Do you have any advice or tip to study?

Anna:   Not trust yourself to get work done, but set up a system to keep you accountable

Ben:  For math, always do your homework even if it’s not due. Don’t study for tests the night before.

Which is your worst subject?

Anna: History because it’s a lot of memorization

Ben: History because it takes the most time to remember everything

Do you feel stressed or overwhelmed sometimes?

Anna: Yes

Ben: Yes

Do you do any extracurricular activities?

Anna: Piano, used to do a lot more but have had to scale back because of time

Ben:Piano, marathon club, robotics club

What would you like to study in the future?

Anna: Something in science

Ben: Computer Science

What would be your ideal college?

Anna:  Small with core curriculum w/ exposure in all subjects so that you’re more well educated as a person

Ben: Classes that aren’t too large but stay up to date with what’s going on in the field in terms of programming classes

Do you have any ritual that you always have to do while you study?

Anna:  I listen to white noise and turn all devices on airplane mode to focus

Ben:  Always listens to music while doing math, but likes it silent for everything else

Some of our best juniors:

How much time do you usually spend studying?

Zach Kronsberg: Depends on the subject, approximately 2 hours a night.

Jenny Yao: Depends on the subject and the day. Maybe a couple hours a day.
How do you normally organize your week?

Zach: I make a daily schedule and schedule when I will do my homework, relax and go to sleep.

Jenny: Organize my homework, practicing time around my music lessons or volunteering time.

Do you have any advice or tip to study?

Zach: Yes, always read the subject material and key terms

Jenny:  Just do it! Read the textbook, no matter how dense or dry and learn to apply important concepts in a multitude of contexts.

Which is your worst subject?

Zach: Science.

Jenny: Perhaps English

Do you feel stressed or overwhelmed sometimes?

Zach: Very often, but I remind myself to take one item at a time.

Jenny: Every now and then, but hey. It’s only human! otherwise, it’s pretty manageable.

Do you do any extracurricular activities?

Zach: Yes, Academic Team, helping with Hebrew school and also I go to a lot of movies.

Jenny: Piano, musical composition, recreational tennis (not too good at it though), biomedical research.

What would you like to study in the future?

Zach: Drama,education, mathematics, political science.

Jenny: Bioengineering and musical composition.

What would be your ideal college?

Zach: Yale University.

Jenny: Somewhere fairly small with opportunities for scientific research and music outreach and a diverse student population.

Do you have any rituasl that you always have to do while you study?

Zach: No, I just study normally.

Jenny: Not really.

And finally some  really good students from the sophomore year:

How much time do you usually spend studying per day?

All of them: Usually we study about two hours every day.

How do you normally organize your week?

Steven Schlosser and Collin Baker: I do mostly of my work in the weekends, usually I even wait to Sunday to finish them.

Do you have any advice or tips about studying?

All of them: Study every day and rewrite your notes to review them.

Which is your worst subject?

Collin : History, there are so many things to study.

Steven: I think it would be Spanish.

Abigail Keating: Probably it’s English.

Thandi Nixon: Right now my worst is Math

Do you feel stressed or overwhelmed sometimes?

All of them: Yes!

Do you do any extracurricular activities?

Steven: I’m on the football team and also on the boys lacrosse team.

Abigail: I swim and I’m on the school team.

Collin: I do cross country and track.

Thandi: I play tennis on the girls tennis team.

What would you like to study in the future?

Thandi: I don’t know!!

Abigail: Something like International Relations 

Collin: Biology, I think

Steven: Engineering  

What would be your ideal college?

Collin and Steven: A small one, not too stressful if possible.

Do you have any ritual that you always have to do while you study?

All of them: Not really, the only important thing is taking snack breaks sometimes.