High school students in the Renton School District will begin state testing next week, starting March 15 with the writing portion of their High School Proficiency Exams (HSPE).

Jennifer O’Roarty, Language Arts Department chair at Renton High School, offered this advice to students: get two nights of good sleep and eat like you want to do well on the sports field.

“Well, the big thing is they have to understand that they’ve been doing the practice all along and to get ready for the day; it’s just like training for a sports event,” O’Roarty said.

She encouraged students to limit all screen time, meaning computers, cell phones and all those devices that distract them to prepare their minds.

“Eat a really healthy dinner the night before, make sure you eat breakfast the day of, plenty of water,” she said. “Just like you were training for an athletic event because it’s just kind of a stressful time for some people and the best way to relieve that stress is to make sure your body has fuel.”

Known formerly as the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL), the new test debuted last  spring and is shorter to take and administer than the WASL. Reading, math and science take just one day each instead of two with the WASL.

However, that doesn’t mean that the test is easier. A quick perusal of the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction’s website offered this about testing: “The entire testing system will be much more efficient, but the tests, still based on our state learning standards, will continue to be valid and reliable.”

Passing the HSPE is required for graduation from high school. But O’Roarty, who has been teaching for 15 years, said the test is not everything.

“High school is not all about the HSPE; it’s about a whole host of different kinds of learning opportunities. This is just one marker,” she said.

What’s new this year is math end-of-course exams, which were created so students can be tested on the knowledge and skills they’ve gained from a specific course rather than on a comprehensive test which is the HSPE. There will be end-of-course exams in biology starting next spring 2012.

If there is something a student shouldn’t do that’s to give up, said O’Roarty.

“I know there’s a lot of kids who are anxious about it; they feel pretty worried about it, but they also do some their best work and their best thinking and they often surprise themselves with what they do know,” she said.