It’s Midterm season and everyone is starting to get stressed OUT. Here are 5 quick tips to help you when you are getting overwhelmed with test and papers.
1) Breathe
It’s simple, but important. Take a breath, count to 10, and calm down to conquer the next project.
2) Come up with a schedule
Prioritize what is most important and what needs to be done quickest. Make a schedule filling in the most important things first, and then figuring out the rest. Remember to leave time for eating, sleeping and breaks!
3) Use positive reinforcement
When talking about a project or studying for an exam, try to use positive words and positive thinking. Honors students especially tend to exaggerate about how horrible everything is and that type of thinking just allows for negative feelings to become associated with a subject.
4) Meditate
Take breaks while studying and make sure to be calm when working. Panicking results in worse work than taking an extra minute to calm down and rethink a problem. If you are using a computer for long periods of time, remember to do the 20-20-20 rule: For every 20 minutes looking at a computer, stare at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
5) Find something you enjoy for after
If you have something super stressful coming up, try to do something fun afterward to de-stress. Maybe plan a trip to the Kennedy Center or go to Baked and Wired for cupcakes! Try to get out of your dorm room/the library and take a well deserved break!
Now enjoy this gif of baby pandas and get to work!
–This post was written by Student Peer Advisor Sarah Rood.
