By Maya Shavit

It’s midnight on a Thursday.  You have just completed a deluge of difficult homework, and you are about to go to sleep when a wave of terror washes over you like a strong tide slapping against the shore. You forgot to study for that massive Algebra test you have tomorrow!

​One way or another, all students have had a moment of panic where they completely forget about a topic and then do poorly on an important exam. Much of this stress is attributable to poor or weak study habits that we have developed over time. Luckily, it is never too late to study smarter by studying in an organized manner, challenging oneself to the greatest extent, and finding unique ways of retaining important concepts.

It is crucial to remember that studying does not happen in one night. Honors and AP science teacher Kathleen Brennan suggests that we should allot specific times to our studies and make sure that studying is a part of our daily routines. 

One way to start is that we can process and review information the minute a new topic has begun. Allowing yourself to have dedicated time to digest information outside of the natural learning environment is important. To understand information, you should try to explain all concepts, ideas, and aspects to anyone unfamiliar with the topic and make him understand it.  In essence, practice teaching others.

In addition to that thought, you must challenge yourself to understand the material. Social studies teacher Colleen Stephenson believes that a student’s most valuable studying tip is to challenge and review.

Students should “review class notes daily and … not wait till the night before the test taking process to make sure that as questions arise all throughout the unit, questions can be asked.”

By asking questions and prompting new thoughts about subjects, students can develop a deeper understanding of the topic they are researching. Questions about ideas will always help students conceptualize ideas more deeply and to understand more fully.
           
As a final strategy, personalize your studying.  Each person’s mind is wired differently especially in the way it understands concepts, so one must find what works for him/her.

Freshman Allison Zhu takes some help from her father to personalize her studying:
“My dad in order to effectively explain a math concept puts it in fandom term, for example, Harry Potter, and explains it to me in Harry Potter terms.  So if he is trying to explain to me a system of linear equations, he’ll say, ‘Harry Potter goes to the bank and deposits 5 galleons on the first day every day after that six galleons. Voldemort does the same thing except he first deposits ten galleons.’ And that is how he will get me to remember math terms.”

You can personalize in similar ways by drawing a doodle or making a parody of a song.  The key is to find the best personal learning strategy, no matter how absurd it may seem to another student.  Remember that learning is yours.

In conclusion, strive to organize, work on consistently challenging material, and find the method of studying that works for you.  Then, apply all of your effort in whatever method of preparation you choose.  If you internalize and apply the new information, you will hold onto it much longer.

By Shiva Peri

​The doorbell rings. A homeowner opens the door to children who chant, “Trick-or-treat.” The phrase is more of a statement that seems strange as it originated as a question. Trick or treat? The majority of people lean to the latter. Perhaps this bias came to be because of how much easier it is for marketers to sell candy as opposed to… well, what exactly is a ‘trick’ in the context of Halloween?  Nevertheless, Halloween has been sullied in recent years by two disturbing phenomena: elderly treaters and lazy costumes.
 
Trick-or-treating (or the more accurately named treating) remains the centerpiece of Halloween. Children of all ages revel in heaps of saccharine goodness, which literally come in “fun-sizes.” But perhaps the keyword here is children.  Most households are perfectly happy to supply adolescents with candy. But at what age does begging for candy become just crude?
 
If an adult without children came to your door on Halloween, would you give him candy? Would the rarity of the occurrence make it an awkward exchange? Some people believe that one is never too old to beg for candy that he or she does not deserve.  But considering the amount of work it takes to go door-to-door and get 1-2 pieces of candy, it would seem far more effective to just buy candy in bulk quantities.
 
Really, though, trick-or-treating is too immature and too unhealthy to carry on into adulthood. Consuming large sums of sugar without restraint is a childish notion.
 
Another complication that arises out of this popular festivity is the costumes of trick-or-treaters. Many parents of toddlers dress up their kids solely to take pictures to share on social media.  Often, children dress up as Disney characters and wear generic costumes that require no thought or creativity.  Teens may be even worse in the laziness of their costumes.  Should you get candy for wearing larger glasses or a t-shirt with a hastily drawn skull-and-crossbones?  Is a costume even necessary on Halloween? Would you give candy to a trick-or-treater without a costume?
 
This Halloween, let’s set some ground rules:

• No one over 12.
• Costumes must be creative (judged by each homeowner)
• Use your words, i.e. “please” and “thank you”
• Eat no more than 50% of your body weight in candy
• Have fun

By Shiva Peri

In my current endeavors as a junior meticulously approaching the college process, I have been thinking about the definition of intelligence quite frequently. Throughout this work, I intend to answer the following three questions: 1) What exactly is intelligence? 2) How do we measure intelligence? 3) How does society value intelligence?
 
1) A quick Google search will yield an immediate, yet unsatisfying answer: 1. the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills; 2. the collection of information of military or political value. One reason this answer is so lacking is that it is too general. Intelligence means much more than that.
 
An idea that modern society holds dear is that education is the way to become intelligent. Consider Bloom’s taxonomy, a classification system for the stages of learning. Memory, understanding, and application (in other words, the Google definition) only cover the bottom three tiers. The abilities to analyze, evaluate, and create we find only at the top. But the question remains unanswered. Where does intelligence fit into said spectrum?
 
Perhaps intelligence is not a result of education but a consequence of experience or common sense. If we regard intelligence in this sense, then we can place the concepts of intuition and drawing connections under the umbrella of intelligence because those skills develop with experience.
 
However, these definitions have a bias towards the cerebrum and exclude the cerebellum. Physical abilities such as hand-eye-coordination are also forms of intelligence. However, even these ideas are biased towards humans. Many other primates possess some form of intelligence or ability to learn.  Thus, we narrow our question: what exactly defines human intelligence?
 
After a few months of contemplation, I believe that what makes human intelligence so special is our insatiable curiosity and our drive to find the answers to our questions. The diversity in how each human thinks, reasons, and feels all define his or her intelligence. Intelligence is not only defined by the traditional intellectual idea but also entails dexterity, emotional, and artistic intelligence.
 
2) These various definitions, though, do not all match how the majority of important institutions measure intelligence: grades, IQs, standardized test scores.
 
The first of said means is grades. While grades are an adequate measure of intelligence, they do not reflect everything. Often, good grades are merely a result of participation, completion, and memorization.
 
Another idea that may measure intelligence is IQ (Intelligence Quotient). IQ essentially determines how good one is at grasping a concept. Again, the test has its flaws. Quantifying intelligence with a number makes intelligence seem entirely one-dimensional, which the answer to the first question clearly disagrees with.
 
Standardized tests are another prospective measure of intelligence, typically assessing general literacy and basic mathematical skills. While these tests may be helpful for colleges and job employers to quickly evaluate a candidate, they cannot represent the complexities of how intelligent one is and how he or she thinks.
 
3) The final question has the most applicability to our lives. Living in the information age, we can access knowledge relatively universally. In addition, society seems to rely entirely on the education systems to produce apt employees. The ambiguous notion of what makes a candidate “apt” is what inspired my thoughts in the first place. The notion that employers expect students to have perfect GPAs and SAT scores and to participate in several extra-curriculars may disillusion many young people.  In trying to be the ‘perfect applicant’ or ‘perfect candidate,’ people constantly fear failure, never take risks, and most importantly, lose the curiosity that drives their intelligence.

​If intelligence is what we defined earlier, then we must remember to cultivate all forms of our intelligence or risk becoming one-dimensional.