Do you hear that? The swirling of coffee, the lights flicking in the late night hours, the twitching of students as they shuffle quickly through their notes they prepared that morning… That’s right, it’s midterms.
Now in this season of tested material, there are two types of college students. The first, study. The second, don’t. Whichever you fall into, midterms bring the same thing to all: STRESS.
So here are five ways to help handle the stress of homework, regular work, relationship work, other forms of work, ALONG WITH midterms.
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Organize Your Time. Take a deep breath and don’t think about the mounds of studying you should have started many moons ago. You can’t go backward and start studying, so sit down and plan out your workload now. Make notecards for your harder tests coming up and prioritized studying for the soonest exam and work from there. Just don’t forget about the homework that is also due that week. You can also acknowledge that some things aren’t super important to complete right away. Helping to know what you can reasonably put off for next week is part of balancing your workload.
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Take Well-earned Breaks. Now that you have your work organize and 3×5 cards made with all the important terms, take a productive study break. Emphasis on productive. That means no wandering around Netflix hoping that something will look interesting enough to lose yourself into, but something that gets you up and moving. Walking helps clear your mind and prepare you for cramming, I mean studying, your notes. Also, fresh air never killed anyone, at least not anyone we know of.
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Be a People Person. Make sure in between the long work hours, the stacks of homework and the cramming for midterms that you make time for human interaction. It is easy to feel trapped while staring at notes and books all day, even when you are walking around every little bit. Talking to friends and family, or even random people in line for a much-needed caffeine fix, helps you balance your stressful load. It also helps you make showering a priority, which you know, is important.
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Make Sleep Restful. I can see it now, all the college students are laughing. “Hahahahahahha, sleep?? What’s that?” *twitch* *twitch*. Well, poor student, sleep is something that is glorious and should be prioritized, especially during mid-terms and finals. Sleep helps your mind be rested and actually helps retain information. Now, most people would argue it’s hard to go to sleep, and here’s some tips for that: 1. At least 30 minutes before you want to sleep, wind your brain down by limiting screen time. 2. Read a boring book. 3. Drink a warm beverage. That being said, it can still be difficult, so may the odds be ever in your favor.
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Actually Study. One of the biggest stressors in midterms and finals is not knowing the material. So pro tip: Actually know the material. Past me is kind of a jerk in the fact that she lets studying build up until I’m scrambling to know every term and every research article. Don’t do that to your poor Future Self, they haven’t done anything to deserve that type of stressful anxiety. Even if you can only afford a few glances in the morning or a few notecard sessions in between work hours, DO IT. Because as Shia Labeouf said, “Yesterday you said tomorrow, so just do it!”
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BONUS TIP: Stressed spelled backward is dessert, which is just another reason why daily chocolate is a good idea.