Midterm season is a dreaded time of the semester for most students. With the chaotic scheduling, packed libraries and lack of time in the day to study for all your courses, it can be overwhelming without the proper preparation. Here’s few tips on how to survive this hectic time in the school year.

1. Plan ahead.

As a student, you may tend to only focus on assignments that are due tomorrow and delay other work for the future. This can cause extra unnecessary stress.

“Spread out each course accordingly, that way you don’t overwhelm yourself with different courses throughout the week,” freshman Christele Romulus said.

When planning ahead, you should look at your syllabus and see what future assignments are due in the next month. Buying necessary supplies, like a planner, is essential when organizing what you need to do. There are a variety of agendas to choose from, including those that feature monthly and daily calendars. These will allow you to have important dates and tasks written in your planner, and the act of writing it down can help your muscle memory to remember, too.

2. How do you study?

From your experience in college, you should know what helps and what doesn’t help you when studying. Whether it’s Quizlet, index cards or even rewriting the textbook, you know the best personal techniques for you.

“I’ll usually use Quizlet,” senior Simone Guidry said. “It’s great because it’s on my phone, so if I don’t have my school stuff with me, I can still study. Like if I’m on the train, or if I just have a period of time with nothing to do, I can pull it up real quick and quiz myself.”

There are so many helpful tools you can implement. Create review sheets that provide a general overview of what you will be tested on. You could also form study groups with students who are in your class. If your own methods are not working, the Samuel Rudin Academic Resource Center here at Iona provides tutoring that is useful in helping you understand any topic that you missed in class.

3. The exam scramble.

When midterms come around, you will probably have them back to back to back. You can already feel the hysteria of the week dawning on you, so how can you handle it?

Before heading into the week, you should establish your schedule. That includes academics, extracurriculars and even time for your mental health. Many times, students find themselves breaking down halfway through the week because they neglected to pay attention to their mental health.

Before taking on the week, check where your head is at. Do you feel overwhelmed? Are you nervous? Did you get enough sleep? Did you eat? Next, let your clubs and organizations know what is currently going on during the week. If you have prior events with the organization, schedule around that event.

In hindsight, midterms won’t be as bad as they seem right now, and with these tips you can manage them better than before. With that said, get some rest and good luck on your midterms, Gaels.