It's that time of year again. The vivid colors, the crisp cool breeze and the wailing of college students everywhere. It's autumn (and it finally feels like it too), specifically October, and that means midterms. Midterms are those pesky exams that count towards a ton of your final grade and that means stress. In order to minimize the stress and keep you mentally sane, I took the liberty of compiling a list to help you.

1. Go to SI.

SI, or Supplemental Instruction, is an amazing resource here at UD. It's students helping students led by a student who has taken the course already and did well. It's great for test prep because you all are working together to solve problems, or even exchange notes if someone missed a part or has insanely detailed notes that make perfect sense. The SI instructor knows how your professor designs the exams and because of that, can help you to hone in your studying. If you haven't gone to an SI session, go.

2. Contact your professor(s).

This is a foolproof method of help. Professors are here to help you succeed, and are there to help you learn. If you don't understand something, email your professor, or set up a time to meet with them during their office hours. Sometimes meeting one-on-one with your professor is what makes the concepts and materials click and for that "ah ha!" moment to happen.

3. Sleep.

Sleep is insanely important in regards to learning. Our brain and body need to recover from the day and prepare for the next. The average time people of our age group, 18-25, should sleep is around eight to 10 hours a night unless you're like me and need over 10 to even feel rested (I blame the garbage truck that goes behind my residence hall). Try to study effectively so that you can get a good solid sleep session in.

4. Breathe and relax.

Relaxing during midterms?! What blasphemy do I speak of? I speak on behalf of your physical, mental and emotional well being. Just like sleeping, our bodies need to rest and decompress. Don't over-stress yourself because at that point, your brain isn't absorbing any information. Effective studying happens in intervals over time. Study 20-45 minutes at a time and take a 15-30 minute break and do something relaxing like watching dog videos on YouTube (sorry, dogs are funnier than cats), or catch up on "Rick and Morty," or take a shower and let the steam loosen those muscles. I highly recommend the Alexander Position where you lay down on the ground and put your legs up so your knees are perpendicular to the ground and stay that way without you using any muscle tension. Lay there for 20 minutes and you can literally feel yourself stretching out and decompressing; it is the best thing I have ever felt. Once the break is up, slowly get back into studying. Acute adjustments are rough on the brain. One tip to get back into studying is by making a game plan and just writing down some notes. Once that's done, hit the notebook, textbook and Crash Course (still useful in college).

5. Take the exams.

It's time to take the exams you've been studying for! Whenever I come to this point in similar articles, they usually say, you'll ace them now! This article is different. We all know we will not get an A+ on every exam/midterm. That is totally fine. For your difficult classes, set yourself a reasonable goal. For those who struggle with math, set the goal to be above or at a C and no lower. Yeah, a C isn't golden, but Rome wasn't built in a day either. Next exam, aim for a B-, then a B, all the way up to an A. We all have that one concept of a class that we simply cannot understand for the life of us, and that is fine. Study it, give it your best shot, and it could turn out not to be on the exam at all. Midterms can seem scary, but they usually only cover the most important material that is essential for your understanding. You can't fit every single concept onto the midterm and be able to finish in an hour and 15 minutes.

I hope these pointers have helped you conquer midterms! Be on the lookout for my "How to Survive Finals at UD" article come finals season.