With the school year soon coming to an end, SOLs and big exams are creeping up on students. Attend the SOL remediations taking place after school whenever you can. Get enough sleep the night before so that you will be better able to concentrate and remember information the day of the test. Aim for a minimum of 8 hours. Eating a healthy breakfast is another way to prepare yourself beforehand. Take your time and read the entire question and consider every answer. It’s also important to read and consider all of the answer choices before coming to your final answer. If you don’t know the answer to a question, eliminate any answers that you know are incorrect to narrow down your choices. Since SOLs are not timed assessments, you should always check your answers. Use whatever tools are available to you during the tests and bring everything that is required to testing areas. Pay special attention to operation signals on math SOLs since they can be difficult to decipher in small print. Make sure to read the instructions before proceeding to answer any questions. Use scratch paper and draw out any problems that you need to instead of trying to work them out in your head. Although this period of the year can be stressful for many, it’s important to take things easy. “A strategy I use for test anxiety is slowly breathing in and out three times and thinking positive thoughts,” says Rany Yousef (9).