Mastering midterms | The Triangle

Mastering midterms

Public Domain: Pixabay
Public Domain: Pixabay

Midterms are right around the corner and with Drexel’s fast paced 10-week schedule it can be difficult to keep up with all of your classes. The 10-week quarter system does have a lot of benefits compared to a regular college schedule, which is generally five weeks longer.

But even if you’re a bookworm like myself, sometimes the fast-paced schedule can still overwhelm you, especially when midterms are right around the corner.

The key to making it through each quarter alive is to stay ahead of your work as much as possible. Putting off projects and papers until the night before they are due can make your life very miserable during the quarter. This is why it’s important to make sure you have a thorough understanding of your class schedule. Quizzes and exams can creep up on you out of nowhere if you don’t keep track of the exact dates they happen on and how far away those dates are.

Most class schedules will tell you what material will be covered on an exam or quiz, so if you really want to get ahead of the work, you should start studying all the material that will be covered on an exam before your professor even gets to said material. By doing this, you’ll be well prepared for the exam and by covering all the material that will be on the exam, you will also be ready for all of the quizzes that come before the exam.

Prioritizing what you need to study, when you need to study and how much you need to study is also very important. Some classes require your time and attention more so than others, but this depends on several different factors. Two of the main factors that you will want to take into consideration are how much material a class has and how difficult the material is to learn. This is a good way to determine where you are going to want to put much of your studying time throughout the term.

However, this is certainly prone to change because you will want to switch your focus from class to class as exams approach. This is where we start to run into a problem though. Because exams generally take place during either the same week or a week apart from each other, it can be a real challenge to balance your time between the different classes when midterms start. But this is exactly why it’s so beneficial to study well in advance of exams.

At some point in your educational life, you’ve probably heard somebody say that on the day before an exam it’s a good idea to not do any kind of work with the subject that you are going to be tested on. Now, for some people this can work, but as a rule of thumb, doing this is not a very good idea. Not studying the day before an exam is usually fine if you’re prepared, but it’s a good idea to always review the material you’re going to be tested on. If you review the material, you’ll be better prepared for the exam and the information will also be fresh in your mind the following day.

Now, while I am saying that getting ahead of your work is important, you also don’t want to get ahead of yourself in the process. Everyone has their limit when it comes to how much studying they can do. You don’t want to study to the point where you become a zombie with no social life to relieve yourself from your work every now and again.

The 10-week schedule may move at a rapid pace, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take regular breaks from your work to go outside and do something you enjoy. You would be surprised by how much joining something like a club can help relieve the stress that comes with midterms and exams in general.
Drexel’s 10-week schedule can be rather intimidating, especially for a freshman like myself, but it really just boils down to utilizing your study time wisely and knowing when to take a break from your work.