One of the best-kept secrets when it comes to midterms is studying smarter, not harder.
What are midterms?
For students, midterms feel like a microdose of finals stress and added inconvenience. For professors, midterms are a formative assessment to better understand how their students are grasping the information being taught. This allows professors to better mold their lesson plans to their students.
According to School Tutoring Academy, “Midterms provide students with a very accurate representation of how they are doing in their classes.”
As a student, midterms should be less of a stress point and more of a beneficiary. You have the ability to truly identify your struggle points in a class and improve on them before finals hit.
”Students should know that midterms aren’t just for teachers, they are also a good time for students to evaluate themselves and decide what has been working well as well as what hasn’t been working well for them in each course,“ said Lauren Golden, video/broadcast production coordinator.
How can students prep for midterms?
Success during midterms is attainable with the right amount of diligence. Reach out to your professor and ask them how you can prepare for their midterm. Curate a study plan that caters to the way you learn.
Study somewhere quiet, sometimes home is too distracting. Dixie State University has study rooms in the library you can book for a silent study session. The weather is getting cooler, so enjoy studying outside on the lawn in the fresh air.
According to Thought Co., “Come up with a plan. For example, on certain days, plan to review your notes from class and highlight key elements you need to remember.”
Midterm prep is the way to ensure success. Start a study group; you are not alone in the stress of your classes, so reach out to your peers through Canvas or Navigate. Read the study guide; this is where you can go back to working smarter not harder.
How should students study for midterms?
Your professor wrote the test; a study guide is their way of giving you a nudge that this is the information that will be on your test. Start a week ahead; studying in small increments will help memorization better than an all-nighter will.
“Delegate your time accordingly,” Golden said. “If you have to write a long paper in one course, take an exam in one course, and submit an assignment in another, figure out which is going to take the most time and start there”
Try going through old assignments and identifying your struggle points, those are where you’ll want to allot more time studying.
Midterms are stressful, but they are a great stepping stone in preparing you for finals. At the end of the day, your professors want you to succeed. Don’t be afraid to reach out for study advice and help before your exams.
