All of us in college dread midterms. They're the bane of our existence, because sometimes, they're the biggest percentage of our grade other than the final. Also, it shows how much we've studied over the past semester. So, in lieu of upcoming midterm season, here's a few tips.
1. Get your sleep.
We all know that cramming is easy and useful (sometimes), but we have to make sure that we get a few good hours of sleep. Lack of sleep could lead to various health issues and can affect our daily performance. On average, most college students average around eight hours of sleep, according to Sleepless at Stanford. Sleeping also improves memory retention, gives us better mental health and more energy. Unfortunately, coffee doesn't always work.
2. Eat a good breakfast.
We've all heard this in middle school and high school, but eating breakfast before a test actually helps. A study performed by Gregory Phillips from Blinn College found that, of the nearly 1300 students surveyed, almost 68 percent ate breakfast and of those, around 73 percent scored a "C" or higher in their classes.
3. Join study groups.
Sometimes it's easier to study with other people instead of yourself. There's less inclination to distract yourself with Twitter or Instagram when you're in a group of people that are together for a common goal. Study groups also help with understanding concepts better and getting better, more comprehensive notes. You also can also develop new friendships there as well. Montclair State University has a few tips when it comes to study in groups.
4. Go to class.
Most of the time, we don't want to do it, but for most classes, attendance is required. Sure, we get a few absences, but overall, our teachers want us in class. Some teachers use discussions to evaluate and help students learn, while others give comprehensive notes that may or may not be supplied online. Also, even if you get the notes from somewhere else, the teacher may say something important that your classmate may not catch.
5. Write notes in a way that's understandable to you.
When writing notes in class, we tend to write everything down instead of just figuring out ways to understand and learn the subject. Some different ways of writing notes include Cornell notes or writing shorthand. Writing notes that you understand will help with cementing the concepts in your head.
6. Re-write notes.
In that essence, re-writing notes is pretty useful. According to How to Study, doing this when the information is still fresh in your brain is beneficial. Connections could be made with other sections of notes and the notes would be easier to understand when looking back. Plus, if you use Cornell Notes, your information would be neatly organized and easy to navigate.
7. Review for about an hour before the test.
Reviewing is good for refreshing you memory. When you do it before a test, it's easier to remember and understand the information that you're about to be tested on.
When midterms arrive, remember not to stress yourself out. Just study the best you can and do your best!
