Many might assume that I would have midterms handled by my last year of college. Well, think again. Like many students, I struggle to get through the week with my sanity intact. After the passing of my midterms week this year, I thought I would share seven things you definitely should not do during midterms.
1. Do not take a preemptive study break the first half of the week.
You may try to reason that it will help motivate you for the harder things the rest of the week, but it won't. Even worse is that you will realize those 2 nights off would have helped you so much more than you thought.
2. Do not drink three Red Bulls and then change your mind about pulling an all-nighter.
When you have had that much caffeine in a short period of time, even if you get your work done, you are not going to bed any time soon.
3. Do not choose midterms week to get lost in a island vacation fantasy.
We have all done it before- seen an amazing picture on Facebook or Instagram and wondered what it would be like to live in paradise. You start wondering how much your test matters in the scheme of life, and how much happier you would be just living on the beach. We snap out of it eventually, but midterms week is the wrong time to lose motivation over an imaginary beach.
4. Do not prioritize by the easiest assignments.
Although tempting, and not always a bad idea, this practice can sometimes lead to big problems. Big problems meaning you spend way more time working on the easy things as a means of procrastination, and then you are left with not enough time for the harder assignments. I do this all the time, and please just save yourself the stress and do the hard work first.
5. Do not snooze the alarm from your power nap.
The next thing you know, the 30 minute nap you allowed yourself has turned into a 3 hour sleep. Waking up panicked and with 3 hours less of study time is not the kind of night you want during midterms.
6. Don't force yourself to go to class if you urgently need to get something else done.
If you have a test you are needing to study for, or final touches to do on a paper, do not try to do this work in another teachers class. Even if they don't say anything, they notice you are not engaged. Go somewhere and focus all of your attention on what you need to get done. It is okay to miss class every now and then and it won't be the end of the world to miss one day of participation points.
7. Don't forget that in the end, school isn't everything.
School is incredibly important, and we are all very blessed to be receiving an education. But our mental health is important too, and we need to remember that pushing ourselves to the edge for a week or two isn't always a good idea.
