Wake Forest is known for its challenging academic curriculum and extensive amount of course work. Midterms serve as a wakeup call, especially for us freshmen, to evaluate how much we’ve retained and how well we’ve been able to keep up with the workload thus far. By now, you’ve probably found a study method that works best for you or a nice quiet place in the library where you get most of your work done. However, if you found midterms overwhelming, here are some tips as how to survive your next set of exams come finals week:
Find a nice quiet study spot – Yes, hanging out with friends in a big study group is fun, but it can also be extremely distracting. Give yourself some block of time during the day to study alone in a quiet area so that you can effectively minimize distractions and maximize your studying efficiency and retention.
Pace yourself – Cramming all your work into a 6-hour block is exhausting and, in many cases, inefficient. Give yourself a break by scheduling designated Netflix or coffee time with friends in between study sessions; this way your brain has time to process the information you have learned and can recharge for the next round of studying.
Keep on top of your work – While your professors and parents probably nag you about this all the time, staying organized and on schedule with deadlines is absolutely essential for completing a long week of tests and succeeding in college overall. It’s easy to push off essays that aren’t due until the end of the week, but completing larger assignments in increments each day can help avoid future stress and time-crunching.
Keep calm and remember there’s always next time. Even if you didn’t do so well on midterms this semester, you always have the next test or paper to do better.
*Cover image from stress.about.com