Staying Sane in the Midst of Midterm Madness

By: Ann Nguyen ‘22

The endless midterm season has fallen upon many of us, and the mere thought of constant, back-to-back exams and midterm papers alone can drive you insane. How can you manage it all? How do you find your own balance?

I’m still in the process of figuring it all out myself, but hopefully these tips from my personal experience will help you out!

Ann’s Declassified Midterm Season Survival Guide

1. PRIORITIZE

Mark your calendars — literally. Mark them! Take the time to map out your schedule in advance by starring major due dates and exam dates for the rest of the semester. Make note of especially busy weeks.

Create weekly and daily task lists. This is the kind of task list I make for myself:

Use them to set goals for yourself. If you complete all your urgent tasks, find ways to reward yourself. Maybe allow yourself to watch an episode or two of a show you like. It’s so satisfying to check off tasks as you go!

You might feel like it’s a waste of time to make these lists and that you could be using that time to just dive in and get work done. But let’s be a little honest with ourselves, here — we’re all going to procrastinate a little anyway. At least procrastinate effectively! It will ultimately help lessen your stress because you will know exactly what you have to do and when you have to do it.

2. Stay Organized and Be Productive

Prioritizing what you have to accomplish based on importance and due date is the first step you need to take, but it won’t really help if you don’t hold yourself accountable. Stick to your schedule. It’s okay if you don’t finish absolutely everything you need to get done in a day, but don’t let yourself fall too far behind.

When you’re ahead, definitely give yourself a break, but if possible, try to get a little extra work done to make up for the weeks you know you’ll be swamped. It gets tough, but just keep going.

Keep yourself organized.  If you have study guides or your professor gave you overarching themes to prepare with, use that to help you plan. Make an outline for yourself and highlight important topics to review more in depth. Personally, I think it’s important to at least have a basic, broad understanding of your material. Then, I would get any essays I have due soon (and before your exam) out of the way, so I can finish up studying in more detail.

What helps me is putting myself into focus mode, which means switching my phone to Do Not Disturb, fighting the urge to go on YouTube, and playing some chill songs that I won’t get too distracted by but can also help drown out some noise. White noise is also nice, so I like to study outside at TCC or by the Village and let the sounds of the fountains calm me down, while keeping me locked on whatever task I’m trying to complete. 

3. Healthy Procrastination (A.K.A. Take Care of Yourself)

At the same time, don’t overwork yourself. Don’t push yourself too hard. There’s definitely a balance you have to keep by taking lots of breaks, eating regular meals, and setting aside some down time for yourself. You need food to fuel your body and rest to keep your mind energized. Coffee is great and all — it’ll give you a nice jolt if you need it, but it’s not your most helpful friend. You might not come crashing down from it, but it might not be as effective when you really need it — like for that 9 AM exam that you stayed up a little too late to prepare for.

Also, another efficient way to “procrastinate” is to prepare a meal for yourself! I always feel more relaxed while I cook. Also, as I’m preparing food, I can mentally prepare for what I want to get done by thinking about ideas I can focus on for essays, how I want to solve a particular problem, what I want my graphics to look like, etc. Then actually take the time to eat. Enjoy your meal while relaxing. Get all your Snapstreaks sent, and all your social media scrolling out of the way. At the very most, complete some rather more minor tasks like replying to emails. If you don’t take this time now to be a little more chill, trust me — you’ll be left feeling a lot more scatterbrained later. 

4. Chill Out! — Make Time for You

Along with making sure you give yourself breaks during your typical school/work day, make sure to recharge on less busy days. Make your own free time. Let yourself commit to fun social plans like going out for boba, having a board game night, spending a night out, watching Netflix, etc. After all your hard work, you will definitely deserve it! Don’t feel like you have to sacrifice your social life to keep up with your busy midterm season schedule. As long as you don’t go overboard, you’ll be fine. It’s important to enjoy college life — because college is supposed to be fun! Besides, your brain will need something more exciting to keep it from turning to mush.

5. Study a Little More

Again, don’t go overboard with your social excursions because it’s important that you save enough time to review your study materials before the exam and…

6. Rest up the Night Before

I’m not saying you can’t also drink a nice cup of coffee right before your exam, but I am saying that even without it, you will have all the energy and attention you need to ace that exam. If you have been on track with your work plan, you should be more than prepared to tackle whatever midterm questions are thrown your way. If you’re like me, maybe it will comfort you to read over some last minute outlines or notecards. There’s nothing wrong with that, but even without them, just know that you’re more than capable of finishing that exam and moving onto the next major item on your list — just kidding! 

7. Celebrate

Take a nap, and eat some ice cream. Definitely let loose after big exams, instead of just jumping right into the next one — even if letting loose can only last for about half an hour. Following my survival guide and your midterm season agenda has gotten you this far, so why stop now? Like I said before, it’s important to reward yourself after completing a major task. Knocking a midterm off your list is no different! 

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