Midterms. The one time of the year that might actually be worse than finals in some aspects. Midterms are the worst because they can make or break your grades (especially in that one class where your professor counts the midterm as 40% of your overall grade). You might be really satisfied with your grades right now and need to keep them where they are. Or maybe your grades aren’t so hot and you need to improve them before the doom that is finals is upon us. Either way, you’re under a lot of stress, and sometimes that stress can spiral into a lot of doom and gloom in your life for the 1-2 weeks your midterms go on.

But here’s the thing: your grades don’t define you.

Sure, grades are important, especially if you want to go on to grad school and/or professions that really look at your GPA. But grades aren’t everything. Is it really going to matter in ten years that you got a C+ in biochemistry? Highly unlikely.

Take the same approach to studying for midterms (and finals, really). Is it really worth pulling an all nighter to study for that biology midterm? Probably not. How much information are you really going to retain if you go into the exam running on no sleep? It depends on the person, but my guess is not a lot. I suppose the all nighter technique works for some people, but I personally don’t think it’s worth the lack of sleep and risking falling asleep during your exam, just to say you stayed up all night studying. Lack of sleep probably isn’t going to get you a better grade.

If you’re feeling down about midterms, go do something fun to get your mind off things. Take a walk, go do something outside with friends, go to the mall or movies, anything to cheer yourself up. You should study for your exams, but you should also make sure you get plenty of sleep, eat healthy, and take breaks for something fun once in a while. Exams and grades aren’t worth getting stressed out and down about. Your mental health is way more important than your GPA. And remember, it’s only the middle of the semester. You still have time to improve some of those not-so-hot grades.