College would be absolutely perfect without midterms. I wouldn’t go so far as to say all schoolwork should be eliminated, because there has to be something to keep everyone busy on their downtime. Heck, I wouldn’t even want to get rid of finals because we have a full range of days with nothing going on to prepare for them. But midterms are the absolute worst. They’re usually right in the middle of the week that seems to be the busiest since your last exam. And it’s not uncommon that they’re one right after the other, meaning sleep, food, even fresh air are compromised for optimal study time.  But when I was studying for my exams a few weeks ago, I learned less material from my classes and more about how to effectively prevent mid-term and finals week from becoming suicide-worthy.             
For one thing, sleep is crucial. All too often I’ve pulled all-nighters, thinking that I’m staying a step ahead by using extra hours to absorb more information. Unfortunately, that’s kind of counter-intuitive, and judging by the number of people that can be seen at the library at ungodly hours of the night, this is not common knowledge.  
The thing is, for as much study-time you’re gaining by skipping sleep, you’re losing your ability to retain information. By the time the sun comes up, it doesn’t matter if I’ve read my textbook front to back eight times; I’m too groggy to remember anything. 
A Harvard study actually shows that sleeping immediately after studying is the best way to retain the information you’ve learned right beforehand—there’s no clear reason why, but the results of such studies have been consistent. Furthermore, memory deterioration (that thing that happens when you choke on a formula you’ve looked over a thousand times) decreases when you sleep more; these people are at Harvard, I think they would know about effective study habits. Therefore, it’s actually best to just bite the bullet and sleep, because chances are you’ll just forget whatever information you do know by staying up.             
Breaks throughout the day are important. I find that instead of just reading until your brain goes numb, you can figure out what you need to focus on by studying for an hour or two, taking a break to exercise or eat, and then coming back and quizzing yourself to see what you retained from your last session. 
Whatever you don’t remember from between your studying and your break is what you know to review, so you don’t waste the home stretch before the exam worrying about stuff you already have a handle on.             
Another big thing is to eat healthy. A lot of people stress-eat around exams, and it’s usually not good food.  According to WebMD, certain foods can actually help rather than simply act as minimal fuel. For example, carbohydrates (the good kind found in whole wheat bread or bagels) help with your concentration, so long as it’s not an overload that wears you out.  
Believe it or not, caffeine and sugar are also recommended, so long as they’re not over-indulged in.  Caffeine found in one to two servings of green tea, for example, give you a good boost to power through studying and the test. Sugar (or glucose if you want to be scientific) actually has been suggested to help with memory as well, but only if it’s consumed in small doses and with whole grains (jam on your whole wheat bagel, for instance).              
While my grades aren’t perfect, they’re better than ever, and my studying experiences have been a lot more pleasant with the above statements in mind. In the end, if you can accept studying rather than dread it, that’s a huge step in the right direction and towards making better grades. Attitude is everything, and by sleeping, taking breaks, and eating right you can improve your overall experience with midterms which can only help in the end.