With midterms upcoming at Boston University, it’s not uncommon to see students of all ages stressed about finding the time to study for and pass their exams. Naturally, we all want to do well: here are the do’s and don’ts of keeping yourself on track for success in a healthy way.
- Do: Find What Studying Method Works Best for You
-
Whether it be thinking about how you’ve studied for previous exams or trying different study styles ahead of time (like buying a whiteboard, recording your notes, or just writing them out), make sure you know which method works best for you. If you understand how your brain best learns information, you’re setting yourself up for success.
- Do: Try Out Different Places to Study
-
Boston University has a ton of awesome different places to try out studying on campus, and a different environment for your work can definitely make you feel like a whole new person. A change of scenery really makes a difference in breaking up the feeling of being stuck in one place. You can also try different types of study places, for instance, noisy or quiet, and see how each one affects your ability to learn the information.
- Don’t: Leave Studying Until The Day Before The Exam
-
This might seem like an obvious thing to avoid, but it’s a surprisingly common mistake for students. Even if it’s studying ten or twenty minutes a day until test day, that’s getting you more comfortable with the material than if you just started studying the night before. Plus, the added stress of not understanding a concept the night before the exam is taken away by splitting studying over a couple of days.
- Don’t: Sacrifice Too Much Sleep for Studying
-
It’s okay to stay up late studying, but don’t let it become a habit! If you’re staying up late every night, your brain isn’t getting the rest it needs to process all of the information you’re putting into it. On top of that, try your best to get productive sleep. If you have too much caffeine before you go to sleep, it’ll be difficult to get fully rested. If you end up going to sleep late, try to give yourself a little bit of time to sleep in the next morning.
- Remember, studying isn’t all or nothing
-
Every little bit of practice that you do for your midterms is making you even better prepared for the test itself. It may seem like not a lot of information is actually being retained, but it’s still being stored somewhere with all the practice. If you’re running out of time before your test, know you don’t have to get to absolutely everything and know it all perfectly to do well on the test. There might be a couple of concepts you don’t know completely, and that’s totally okay.
Hopefully, this helped with all of your midterm prep, Terriers! Good luck out there.
Want to keep up with HCBU? Make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, check out our Pinterest board, and read our latest Tweets!