Andrew Mazariegos-Ovalle/The Olaf Messenger
There’s no one-size-fits-all tip to nailing your midterms, but there are a few ingredients you can count on to cook up a decent batch of academic success.
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Here’s some advice from my recipe book:
- Prioritize sleep. You will get more work done doing an hour each night and morning than you will pushing through an exhausting six-hour stint.
- Put your phone on “Do Not Disturb,” and keep it out of sight. After 25, 30, 40 minutes, check for messages. Forgive and embrace the fact that reviewing takes time — time deservedly yours, unbroken by a buzz.
- Make a flexible, spaced-out study schedule. Just as lifting weights week after week builds muscle, retaining course material requires successive review.
- Don’t study in one spot for too long. I once made a spin-the-wheel of campus study spots, and my roommate and I got a kick out of the suspense — will it be Holland? Will it be Larson? It’s landing on Rolvaag… wait, no, it’s CAD!
- Clean. It’s an easy way to scratch the “I’m-in-control” itch.
- Exercise. I like to do this in the morning during midterms week. When I work out, I feel like I have so much to give the world. Exams can be an opportunity, rather than an obligation, to unspool one’s life energy towards another goal.
- Don’t self-isolate. Especially if you are a healing perfectionist, self-isolation leads to a perpetuating cycle of uncertainty, culminating in the fear that you’ll never study enough for the exam.
- Instead of isolation, embrace little pockets of joy. Bake brownies. Watch the squirrels. Dance with friends. Remember life beyond work, and focusing will be easier when you return.
- Don’t skip meals, especially on the day of the exam. Your brain consumes an enormous amount of energy. You literally need those calories to think.
- Let yourself cry. And then move on. I highly recommend the bathroom in the Undercroft. 10/10 sob spot.
- Remind yourself that these are only exams. I think of it this way: exams are a training ground for discipline, endurance, and self-acceptance. It’s about meeting yourself where you are, saying, “Ok, I don’t understand this perfectly, but how can I try to take this on before exam day?” Be proud of the work you do. These exams are a road to self-relationship. Take a deep breath, and choose to be here. When you’re present, bringing yourself — not obscuring what you lack and what you hope to gain — you’ve already triumphed.
Olivia Hebblewhite is from Waunakee, Wis.
Her majors are English and environmental studies.
