Midterms are upon us. We just got three snow days in one week, and that cramped all of my tests together way too close. Maybe snow days haven’t affected your schedule recently, but you’ve probably experienced some tests that happened a little too close together at some point in your college career.
When this type of thing happens to me, I freak out internally for a few days, and you might do the same.
Eventually, I realize it’s all going to happen despite what I do, so I might as well just embrace it. The hours are going to roll by regardless of how much I panic.
One effective way to handle all this stuff you have to get done in a short amount of time is to write it all down. That way, you can see exactly how many tasks you need to accomplish in a set amount of time. Also, it doesn’t hurt that you can cross it off when you’ve got it done and feel like you’ve really accomplished something. If you need to work backwards, do that. If your test starts at noon on Wednesday, think about how much time you need to study and how much study time you can actually fit in before the test starts, then plan it out. Executing the plan made may be a story for a different blog, but for the most part, many time management experts point to writing down tasks.
Sometimes, I forget just how great to-do lists are. At first, they feel like, “Oh, no. I’ve got so much to do!” Then you start working at it and you’re like, “Oh, wow. I’ve done so much!” Yay, productivity, right? That’s what I should’ve been doing with my snow days. Instead, I slept a lot and went sledding. And then I realized how much I had to do.
But then I grabbed a pencil and took a look at my planner and realized exactly how much time I had to study for my three tests coming and how much work I needed to put in on my two big papers due soon, and I realized that day by day, I could handle it all just fine. You can do the same.
It’s simple advice, but if you’re caught in a stressful situation, it can work wonders. Just plan it all out. If you’ve got a scheduled plan, you’re more likely to stick to it than if you’re planning to just wing it. And don’t worry. It will all be OK. The hours will still pass despite how much planning you do. You’ll get through it.
I’m going to do it, and you can, too!