Midterms. It’s a word that strikes fear into most university students, and it’s often accompanied by feelings of nausea, panic and a rapid pulse. It’s the time of year when exams, tests and essays refuse to be ignored or be procrastinated on any longer. Stauffer is packed, and spots in line at Starbucks and The Common Ground are long and fiercely defended by sleep-deprived, red-eyed shells of formerly happy and carefree students. For some, it hits harder than others, but it’s difficult to completely avoid the week six blues. On the bright side though, there are ways to make it less painful. Popular tips tell you to remember to exercise, eat well and take study breaks to avoid burnout- but there are a few other ways to ensure midterm survival that don’t get passed around as often. Here are some tried and true tips that go beyond the typical spinach-smoothie-and-morning-yoga box:
1. Make a plan- and then decide what you can get away with doing without. If you don’t know what you’re up against, it’s going to be hard to fight it. Look through your syllabi and figure out what you need to do, and when, and once you’ve got a clear idea of your tasks, figure out how much work is doable before the deadline. Sometimes, it’s just not physically possible to both read 300 pages of a dense philosophy textbook and write a 5000 word paper on that obscure novelist, all before dawn- and that’s okay. If there are things you know you won’t be able to get done, ask your prof or TA for an extension, or gather a group of friends to trade notes on the readings to lighten the load. If you can’t do it all, don’t let yourself get overwhelmed. Setting reasonable goals for work isn’t a sign of defeat, it’s a sign of a girl who can prioritize.
2. Remember that you are not a machine. Contrary to popular belief, studies have shown that university students do actually require a few hours of sleep every night to function. While running on coffee, sitting hunched over a desk until your back goes numb, hiding from friends and the outside world in general might sound productive, it’s not. Go outside and remind yourself of what sunlight feels like on your skin or just go to bed. Don’t get caught up in the hype of studying twenty-four seven. It won’t do you any good in the end.
3. Fun is not the enemy. 15 minute breaks in between study sessions are definitely a good idea to refresh your brain and avoid burning out, but, after you’ve been stuck in a dark library corner collecting dust for six or eight hours, it might be time to shake things up a little. While you might not be able to do all the fun things you usually do while midterms are in full force, make sure to schedule time for things you really love, and make it a priority the same way you do your studying. It will cut down on future procrastination, and you’ll come back fresher to your material. It might seem counter-productive to squeeze in some TV or quality time with your boyfriend, but in the end, it’s about finding a balance between work and keeping your sanity.
4. Jazz up your studying. Are you at that point in your frantic essay writing and studying where you’ve read and re-read that passage twenty times and still aren’t absorbing anything? Every now and then, moments like that hit hard and nothing sinks in. When you’ve already tried taking breaks and just can’t seem to get any of information to stick or any of the words to flow, it’s time to try some unconventional study methods. Some options? Try rewriting the lyrics of your favourite song to include all the stages of that virus mutation you’re supposed to remember and sing it in the shower until you (and all your housemates) can’t get it out of your head. Try drawing a stick-figure comic strip illustrating the events or concepts you need to know or explain in your essay. Bonus points if you can throw in a pun. If you’ve got some study buddies, draw up a quick board game or and write some questions to fit. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box, try and make it as interesting as it’s going to get, and you’ll probably get a bit further than you would just staring at the same page for another half an hour.
5. Forget the guilt. It’s easy to feel like you haven’t done enough when you have important exams to study for, and easy to convince yourself that if you’d just stayed awake another hour it would have made a world of difference. Don’t fall into the trap of feeling guilty because you didn’t study as much as someone else, or because you think you could have/should have done more, or because you may have let other things slip by the wayside while you were in the throws of midterm madness. Study efficiently, do the best you know how to do – and then let it go.