As October rolls around, the midterm grind picks up. It’s like a magic trick—time simply ✨disappears✨It is very easy to find yourself on the verge of stress, a sad cry, or even a full-blown meltdown—a universal experience shared by most students.
During my undergrad, I developed a few tips and tricks for time management during midterm season. These strategies have truly helped me not only survive but also thrive. Who would’ve thought that you could thrive during the midterm season? Not me, but here’s how I did it! And you can do it, too!
Here’s the tips and tricks that worked for me 😀
🗓️ Break Down Your Schedule
Before even prepping for papers and exams, you need to know when they are happening. What are your exam dates? What are your deadlines? Use a calendar or some sort of tracking system to keep track of important dates.
Once you’ve taken note of your important dates, take a closer look at how these dates interact with each other. Do you have exams or papers back to back? You may need to prioritize both equally. Is there a break in between some of these dates? You may be able to focus on some deadlines before others. These types of questions can help you prepare!
🖊️ Create a Plan
There are several approaches you can take to plan for your papers and exams. Here’s the two that I used!
Create a review tracker for each class
I created a master spreadsheet with a list of topics for each exam. There was also a column to rate how comfortable I felt with the material, which helped me keep track of which areas were my strengths and weaknesses. You might also find a similar tracker to be useful, especially for memorization-heavy classes!
2. Create a revision and practice to-to List
Another option is to create an in-depth to-do list for each course with revision topics and practice resources (eg. practice papers, re-do assignments, etc.). With these plans, you can slot each task into a particular dar leading up to the exam to gain a sense of control during midterm season.
However, with this method, flexibility is absolutely key! Things happen and you will fall off your in-depth to-do list; when this happens, you don’t want to feel even more pressure from your exam plans. Thus, it is important to build catch-up days and flexibility in your plans for success!
⏳ Be Smart with Your Time
No matter how much you plan, you only have 24 hours every day—and, that is partially occupied with sleeping because you can’t be pulling all-nighters every day.
So when time is limited, you need to prioritize from the beginning, middle, and end. For me, this means I would focus on high-yield topics before going through the content from lecture 1 to the lecture before the exam. After the high-yield content, I focus on going through all the material again. Then, I zone in on those weak spots (especially, if they are high-yield) to make the most of the hours in the day.
💅 Self Care
University is not a sprint, it is a marathon. There’s always going to be an important deadline or exam. Even after midterm season, you will be busy trying to catch up on the material that wasn’t tested that you end up in finals season before you know it!
Burnout is very common among university students—even though, it is completely avoidable! During your midterms, please schedule self-care activities and blocks of time to re-energize yourself.
Your body, your mind, and your soul will thank you for it.
Health comes first. You can’t write an exam or a paper from a hospital.
Those are my tips! Find the strategies that work best for you! Good luck with the midterm season <3
All my best,
N
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