10 ways to de-stress for your midterms

by Hope McKinney
The stress of midterms can really get to college students. These top 10 tips to get through midterms might be just what you need.
10.) RELAX. Take some time to yourself. Go for a walk, or drive around for a while and clear your head. Sitting in front of a computer screen for long periods at a time can give you a headache and make it that much harder to finish the task at hand. Some me time is always okay.
9.) Do not get behind. Take the time to space out some you time, but do not take it too far. Sometimes taking it too far can end in a failing grade. It is very easy to get behind when you are overwhelmed and you just want to do everything but school work. You have to push through and stay focused.
8.) Talk to your professors. I cannot push this enough. Keeping an open line of connection with your professors can be the difference between knowing what you need to work on and being completely oblivious to things going on with your grades. Professors are there to help you and especially if you have an online class it is important to at least email them and make sure you are on the right track.
7.) Ask a family member for help. If you have at least one family member that is willing to help do not hesitate to ask them. Especially parents and grandparents may have some great insight from when they were in college and how they got through midterms and other big homework assignments, projects and test.
6.) Organize your notes. Keep your notes well organized and easily accessible. This will reduce stress exponentially if you know where everything is and you can flip back to a page where you left off.
5.) Use the silent study rooms on the campus. You can go into these rooms and you will not have any distractions from the task at hand. You can turn off your phone and other devices and just be consumed in your work. Sounds fun right? It actually works, especially if you have a noisy house.
4.) Study smarter, not harder. When you study smarter you plan out what you need to study and outline your notes. This helps you gather your thoughts on paper so you can see them. This reduces my stress because I have everything together and I know what I need to be studying.
3.) Go to class. Especially as Editor-in-Chief of The Settler I get behind easily. With someone constantly needing my attention or texting me about not being able to do things or how something is going I have virtually no time to just sit and listen, except when I go to class. Going to class reduces stress because when you are sitting there your full focus has to be on the discussion or the lecture.
2.) Set your work load to the side. Many students work and go to school at the same time and this can lead to more stress than most people can imagine. If it is possible at all let someone take a shift of yours. This gives you extra time without work stress being on top of school stress to get things done.
1.) Be a great test taker. If you can compose some sort of mock test and take it without distraction you get a lot of practice. This is my favorite destressing tool for those of you who aren’t the best test takers. This helps me reduce stress when it is actually time to get down to business.