We’ve all been there: it’s three in the morning, you’re on your fourth cup of coffee and you have two papers to write, as well as a test the next day. Midterm season is the best, isn’t it? Even though it might seem like a good idea to throw in the towel, don’t lose hope! The craziness will die down soon, I promise. Here are five tips to help you ramp up the energy and take on your midterms with confidence.
1. Find a healthy outlet to deal with your stress
This might seem overdone and a tad cliché, but it’s so important to find healthy ways to let out all of the built-up stress in your life. The best way to do this is to go do something active. Feeling aggressive? Go take a kickboxing class! Need to release some tension? Try out some yoga or practice breathing exercises! It might be a pain to have to block out time in your already-busy day just to go to the gym, but your mind and body really do work better in unison and finding a positive way to deal with all of that stress will help put you in the right mindset for productive studying.
2. Plan your time effectively
Midterm season is a busy time and it can be hard to keep track of everything. One way to make sure you don’t forget about something important is by using a planner. By writing down all of your class times, assignments and important due dates you can keep track of what you need to do and when. Not to mention, you can simultaneously see where you might have some free time to take a quick power nap! There are only so many hours in the day and a planner will make sure that you use all of them in the most efficient way possible.
3. Join a study group
It is my not-so-humble opinion that study groups are seriously underrated. Why would you want to spend hours hopelessly staring at your indecipherable lecture notes alone when you could be finding answers to your questions from a group of classmates? Don’t know anyone in your big lecture hall? Reach out to your professor and ask them if they know about any groups, or you could try to form a group yourself with people from your recitation. It might be intimidating to put yourself out there, at first, but productive study groups are worth their weight in gold when test time comes around.
4. Give yourself something to look forward to
Every time I take a test, I always make sure to give myself an incentive for after it’s all over. The thought of a future reward can serve as great motivation for pushing yourself over that last hurdle, and it’s always nice to be able to look forward to something. Go check out that cool consignment store you’ve always walked past but never actually gone in, treat yourself to some ice cream or go see a movie with friends. You could even plan a quick one-day getaway trip over fall break! The sky’s the limit.
5. Don’t leave it all to the last minute
This is more of plea than a helpful suggestion, but do not start studying the night before your midterm. Sure, cramming might be an okay way to do alright on a test, but it does not help with long-term retention. It’s so much smarter (and less stressful!) to create a long-term study plan where you dedicate as little as half an hour each night to going over your notes. By the time your test comes around, you’ll be more prepared and you’ll probably get to bed earlier.
Good luck on all of your midterms and happy studying!