The STAAR test is right around the corner and it has students from freshman to juniors testing this year. Students are preparing for this test in many ways such as taking advantage of the STAAR bootcamp that many English classes offer to students like Junior, Tarek Hafza.

“Basically I’m doing stuff for English in our classroom. They have us to do pretty much like this boot camp. It’s basically all these different genres that help us study. They all have a story and they all have a certain amount of questions and they just go over them with the teacher when the time is up, and it does help. It’s nice,” said Hafza.

Some students that also have the boot camp think that it doesn’t help them and it’s a waste of time. Sophomore, Asher Popple, feels that it’s not very effective.

“I’m going to be honest it doesn’t help me because my teacher just gives us like 15 minutes to answer them and she doesn’t really teach us we just say the answers and she doesn’t explain if you get it wrong which doesn’t make sense because there’s no explanation,” said Popple.

High schoolers prepare for the STAAR by practicing reading and writing, eating a good breakfast, and getting a good amount of sleep. Some students are fully prepared for this test to come, like Popple, who isn’t worried about it at all.

“I know I’m ready. I’m pretty confident. This year has been pretty chill and I’ve been doing good in English so I think it’ll be really good. English is one of my strongest subjects so I feel pretty prepared,” Popple said.

Eating a good breakfast and getting the right amount of sleep can be crucial to the STAAR test. Most students come prepared but the STAAR does fall during the holy month of Ramadan, where many Muslims fast from dawn to sunset. This can make it hard for those fasting and waking up early for a last pre-dawn meal, like Hafza, to test.

“I am Muslim, and I feel like it would affect me because you wake up a lot earlier to eat and drink, but I don’t wake up to eat for drink so I’m going to go in there hungry, thirsty, and probably tired because I don’t have fuel,” said Hafza.

This year’s STAAR is online which is a drastic change from what is normally done. Last year some students were online the entire year and did have to come in for the STAAR, but it was just the 5 hours of testing and everyone could leave. They also brought one grade in at a time to not have too many students in the school at once. This year everyone is going to be at school and after testing most students will go to their 4th period or Ben Barber. The test will also be taken online, either using a school chromebook or using the computers in a computer lab. Hafza believes it will be different for him from being online to in-person this year.

“I think I’ll do better this year because I was online learning and in my opinion online school wasn’t the best. I didn’t learn as much as kids in person would because when you’re home you can get distracted easily and you also aren’t as aware and prepared for it, and now that I’m in-person I can tell that this year’s test is going to be a lot easier,” said Hafza.

With the STAAR being around the corner, preparing for it can be crucial to how someone feels during the test. Students are advised to get enough sleep, eat a good breakfast, and be mentally prepared for the test. They give the tester 5 hours so they can take their time and not rush. All of these can help prepare teens for the STAAR better.