Getting through midterms and finals is one of the most stressful times on a college campus. Now that my midterm cloud has passed I’m going to give you some fool-proof methods for surviving midterms and finals!
1. Exercise. Exercise. Exercise.
Whether you like it or not, setting time out to exercise is one of the biggest tips I could give for exam success. Even if it’s just walking around, doing some push-ups and squats for 30 minutes, a little goes a long way. Exercising is proven to keep you more alert, it clears your mind and allows you to retain the information better and it can be a great stress relief. The biggest benefit I find from exercise is that when I discipline myself to do a quick hour of working out, I feel a lot more motivated and disciplined to sit and study for hours. It’s as if the discipline from working out spills over into my work.
2. Avoid drinking more caffeine than you usually drink.
We all need our caffeine fix in the mornings and around midday when we start to get groggy. But one of the more important tips to remember is to not over-do your caffeine intake. Drinking excess coffee, energy drinks and the like can make you jittery, can cause extreme crashes in energy and can cause you to have a hard time falling asleep after all the work is done. When studying it’s super important to stick to your regular routine so you don’t shock your body too much.
3. Get no less than 7 hours of sleep.
Sleep is vital to learning and memorizing new information. It helps all the hard work that you did to stick in your minds, it helps to stabilize your mood and it prevent those study time mood swings. Most importantly, your body needs sleep to perform its functions, so never neglect your sleep cycle for an extra hour of studying.
4.. Make a study schedule and stick to it.
Finally, it’s extremely important to make a study schedule. First figure out all the free time that you have before the exam date. Then calculate how many hours you will need to study for each course. Print out or write up your schedule and look at it right before you start your work every day— this will help to remind you that you do not have any time to waste. Remember, that we often take more time that we expect to complete readings so account for the extra time that we’ll need. Also remember to leave time to make up for inevitable distractions along the way.
That being said! These are the study tips that have helped me get though my midterms! I hope they’ll help those of you who still have midterms and for the finals week that is only five weeks away!
