It's that time of the year again, folks: midterm week. I know, right? Just when you were starting to get the hang of things and thought things would get easier from here on out. You just got into the rhythm of things, got yourself a pretty decent routine, then BAM! All of that is suddenly irrelevant as your professors all decide to go rogue on you and figure that this is the time to overwhelm you with bundle after bundle of assignments and quizzes. Nothing makes sense anymore as you're swept away by the mountain of assignments that spontaneously accumulated in front of you. With everything going on, you're forced to decide if hanging out with your friends and having a social life is more important than your education. Yeah, I know. It really sucks, doesn't it? Well it doesn't have to if you keep calm and try to plan things out ahead of time. Here are a few things you can do to prepare.
1. Set an earlier bedtime
They aren't kidding when they say "early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." By going to bed earlier, in turn, giving yourself more sleep, you become ten times more active and aware of things than you would if you were up until one in the morning, like you normally do.
2. Schedule when you should eat
Very important! You can't focus if you're always hungry. Keeping this in mind, figure out certain time frames in which you should eat and then go about your day. This way, you can do your studying and freak out significantly LESS over it.
3. Study at least an hour or two a day
Whoever told you that studying all day was necessary is a liar that needs to be taken down a notch. Studying all day, if anything, puts MORE pressure and stress on you. Limit yourself to at least an hour or two a day. This way, you can focus on other things as well, like food and sleep.
4. Don't let studying consume you
Your life, believe it or not, actually DOESN'T revolve around school and studying. Go out every now and then, remind yourself of what being outside and free feels like. The exams don't own you, it's the other way around, never forget that!
5. Cry before you head off to the exams
If you follow these steps, you should be fine and ready for the exams when they start, but, being a college student myself, I know things will still be tense and stressful for you all. So, in order to prevent this from muddling your focus while testing, before you head out, go ahead and let out all of your frustrations and grief. It doesn't matter where you do it--it could be in your dorm, car, pillow, etc.--as long as you do it, you'll be just fine.
