Over the Hump
I've been holding my breath through the storm of midterms, and with a final sigh, the clouds pass.
This time, it was a happy release because I feel I prepared well for the three midterms. Instead of stressing out at the last minute, I have been trying an ancient method professors call "study as you go."
Now it may sound complex, but the idea is relatively simple. Whenever I get some free time or have caught up on all my readings, I go back and quiz myself on previous chapters.
A study recently came out in the University of Minnesota's student-run newspaper, The Minnesota Daily, linking stress symptoms to bad grades. I can definitely attest to the loss in sleep, constant frustration, and empty cans of Red Bull at 1 in the morning as the cause of a midterm gone very wrong.
I've learned that sleep is more important than theories and a healthy diet is more important than vocabulary words. I can promise I will never return to my old ways of cramming and panicking for tests. I now relax, take a deep breath, and rest assured that I did my best.