Emma Philbrook: Student Life

[Editor's Note: Emma informed us at the very last minute that she would not have a column this week. That's about what we expect from high school students. Following is her explana- tion.]

H ey there!

If you're looking forward to reading my column this week, I've got some bad news for you - I was so busy that I couldn't really write one.

You see, the day my col- umn needed to be turned in to the editor, I had this big long honkin' standardized test. It's an AP test, meaning that the class it covers (AP Environmental Science) is worth college credit if I pass the test.

Unfortunately for me (and, by extension, you), AP Environmental Science ended four months ago.

So I spent last weekend rereading my 600-page Envi- ronmental Science textbook, picking through 50-dollar words and going over chap- ters that weren't read in class. Even worse, because the AP Environmental Science (hereafter known as APES) test isn't course-specific, there will be stuff there that wasn't in the book, so I've had to do extra studying from outside sources.

I blew most of my week- end reading through thirtypage chapters and taking a practice test. Each chapter took forty-five minutes to an hour to read. Towards the end of Sunday evening, I realized that I would have to skip reading several chapters if I wanted to get to bed at a rea- sonable hour. After all, I'm gonna have to make an edu- cated guess on every other question, and my brain does very poorly on limited sleep.

With any luck, I thought, there won't be any questions about campus sustainability or renewable energy down- sides on the test.

As my column needed to be in Ken Graham's inbox by half an hour before the test started, I can't comment on how easy it was, and it's going to be awhile before I find out how well I did. I wasn't too bad in APES class itself, but the test is a whole different ballgame - I barely passed the practice test, so who knows how I'll fare on the real thing?

On the other hand, it is a college-level test, so maybe I shouldn't be too hard on myself.

On the other other hand, I passed the course with a bit of room to spare. (All right, fine, I had an A, which makes the 68% I scored on the practice test all the more discouraging.)

I loved the APES course. It was challenging, the ma- terial was relevant, and it lended itself to a lot of great analogies. (High school is a bit like an ecosystem, after all.) So having the test be so dang stressful is like being betrayed by my best friend.

By the time my mother made me stop studying, it was nine at night. I tried to type a column, but it ended up very broody and emo- tional, probably owing to the late hour.

At ten-thirty, Mom kicked me off the computer and sent me to bed. I was only halfway done typing, and the material didn't pass parental muster, and there was no way I was going to be allowed to take a test as long as the APES exam on less than seven hours of sleep.

As a result, I regret to inform you that I was unable to write a column this week. Publication will resume as usual next Wednesday.

Terribly sorry.