Liberty’s sports medicine team recently took on their state competition, showcasing all the months of preparation they did and bringing home several medals. 

“We had mornings every week where we went to Mort’s classroom and did state prep. We did Kahoot and more specific practice for other events. We also all got textbooks,” sophomore Tala Estes said. 

Even with weeks of prep in advance, some students couldn’t fight the urge to procrastinate. 

“I crammed pretty bad, and I had to put in six hours of work each day on the last two days. I did 6000 flashcards. I wouldn’t recommend it, but that’s just how I prepared,” junior Eli Kim said.

Of course, those 6000 flashcards were necessary for a reason. 

“Most of the terms are very expansive. All the events are very broad, and there’s a lot to know. Remembering everything was really challenging,” Kim said. 

And it wasn’t just general information that competitors needed to know.

“There are a lot of various, really in-depth things we need to know. There are so many muscles and bones to memorize,” Estes said.

But even with all the studying, taking the tests are, of course, a crucial part. 

“It’s a 100 question test, and we have two hours of allotted time. Most of the kids honestly left in 30 to 45 minutes,” Kim said.

Liberty’s competitors weren’t going to be the students leaving early. 

“I stayed the entire hour and I was the last one in the room. I spent 16 hours cramming–I wasn’t going to leave the room without triple-checking every answer,” Kim said. 

And putting in that extra effort definitely got them somewhere. 

“I placed eighth. Do I wish I could’ve done better? Yes, but I’m also very content and I’m very fortunate to have been able to place because I know the margins were pretty tight.” 

Even though the competitors did well, the whole experience wasn’t without a few bumps. 

“We went to Chipotle 15 minutes away, but we found out that quiz bowl had to go on, so we had to sprint back,” Kim said. 

But the whole experience wasn’t just about competing. 

“The best part was just being with everyone. It was a really cool group of people,” Kim said.

“With my team, we would always fist bump each other before each round started, and that helped to calm me down and be like, ‘Ok, we got it,’” Estes said. 

The competitors did, however, have a few main pieces of advice to share. 

“Space your studying out. You’ll retain more long-term, and it’s way less stressful. That’s kind of obvious, but I’m also a procrastinator,” Kim said. 

“You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to be first to make it to the finals,” Estes said. 

Of course, even with this advice, there’s always a strong possibility of defaulting to other test-taking strategies. 

“I can’t lie–I was on insane amounts of caffeine,” Kim said.