Exams and study life

Aylin, my biology exam is tomorrow and I'm freaking out. I have a textbook with three hundred pages. I'm going to cram it all into one night. Yes, I know. Don't say it.

I need to study the skeleton first. I made flashcards with a bone on every card. The funny bone, the collar bone. I can't learn by heart three hundred pages, but I can learn two hundred and six bones. Listen: head, shoulders, knees and toes.

Wait. Why does this card say 'plants'? Oh no. The skeleton is the next chapter, not this one. Okay. Coffee first, then page two hundred.

Ella, I can't concentrate at home. My roommates play music, and my phone buzzes every minute. I get distracted so fast. Yesterday I read one page in two hours.

So I joined a study group at the library. Five people, one table, no phones. Sounds good, right? But on the first day, Mark brought chips, and Sara brought a speaker.

Today the librarian said, 'Please pay attention to the sign.' It said 'Silence'. We left. Now our study group meets at a coffee shop on Fridays. We have pizza and talk about football. It's more of a party, really.

Ceren, I'm fifty-two and tomorrow I'm going to take an exam. The written driving test at the DMV! Don't laugh, I'm serious. Forty questions, multiple choice, and I need thirty-two right to pass.

I did a practice test on my phone last night. I got twenty-four. My neighbor, who is nineteen, got thirty-eight. He says, 'Uncle Hasan, the road signs are easy.' Easy! I see a yellow diamond and I think it's a pizza place.

So now I'm doing the practice test again. Question twelve: what do you do at a stop sign? Easy. You stop. Oh, you stop for a full three seconds? Fine. Wish me luck. If I fail, I'll take the bus.

Dad, I got my math grade. Don't be mad. I failed by two points. Two! The passing grade is seventy, and I got sixty-eight. I even cried a bit in the hallway.

I know I did badly on the final. Tell me that's normal. But look at my term paper: ninety-eight! That's a great grade. 'The term paper is only thirty percent, Ana.' Oh.

Right. So I have to retake the class in the summer. Don't worry, I'm going to study all summer. Well, some of the summer. Dad, why are you smiling? You also failed math? And you never told me?

Dad, are you awake? It's midnight and I have an essay due at nine. Fifteen hundred words about the Romans. I haven't started. It's not my fault. I had lots of other homework.

I know, I know. I always fall behind when there's a good show on TV. Now I need an all-nighter. Can you make me a coffee? Please? I'll do the dishes for a week.

What? You wrote your history essay on the school bus? In the nineties? And you got an A? Dad, that's incredible. Okay, okay. I'll do it on the bus too. Where's my bus pass?

Luke, can I borrow your highlighter? Mine died an hour ago. Thanks. I need to go over all my history notes tonight, and the exam is at nine tomorrow morning.

Look at my first page. I marked the important dates in yellow. Then the names in pink. Then the places in green. It looks great, but now the whole page is yellow, pink and green. What? If everything is important, nothing is important? Don't be a smart aleck, Luke.

Okay, let's go over it again together. Quiz me. When did the Great Chicago Fire start? Eighteen seventy-one! See, I know that one, and it's in yellow. Awesome. Right, I owe you a cookie and a new highlighter.