Prepping for Midterms- Organizing Yourself for Midterm Season!

It’s midterm season. Professors and TA’s and colleges and universities around the globe are getting us all together for mid semester assessments.  Don’t let them sneak up on you.  I always encourage students to constantly check their syllabi and follow up with their professors. Will you have exams, projects, presentations, papers and when everything be due.  Determine preparing for midterms will require for each course and prioritize.   Armed with this information you’ll be able to manage your time and  schedule of studying.  This post will highlight the information students should gather in preparing for midterms.  Don’t miss the bus children.

For each class it’s best to find out....

1.  The format of your midterm- Is it an exam? ( if so is it multiple choice, Short Answer, Essay,etc.). Is it a paper? Project? Etc.

2. The date and time of your midterm or when your midterm must be submitted to your Professor.

3. Find out if your midterm will be cumulative or non cumulative- Cumulative exams assess your knowledge of all the course content from the first day of class until this point.  In other words, what was discussed the first week of class will probably be on the exam. Non-Cumulative exams just test you on the material that was taught since the most recent exam/assessment .  

4. Find out if your professor or TA will provide in class review or access to study guides.  If so, plan to attend them. If not, consider supplementing your personal study with group study.

5. If you don’t know already, find out your current standing in class ( In other words, inquire about prior test grades, missing assignments, etc. 

6. Review returned quizzes, exams. paper and assignments. Read and review your feedback and comments that your professors made on your tests/quizzes, especcial the questions you got wrong.  Note areas where you professors made specific suggestions that would improve the quality of your work. If you’re unclear about anything you see in these comments don’t be afraid to reach out to you professors or TA. If necessary, you can even visit office hours, study groups or supplemental instructions sections. If you’ve struggled in a course thus far, learning where you’ve gone wrong is the first step you should take in making sure you don’t make the same mistakes twice.

Asking these questions will best prepare you to handle midterm season Fall 2011.  . Most of the answers to these questions can be found on your syllabi and/or through a brief conversation with your professor before or after your next class. I’ve learned the hard way that failure to be organized about your studying results in a lot of unnecessary anxiety, stress and cramming.   Save yourself the heartache.  I’ll be back with more study tips later in the week. As always I hope this helps. Feel free to leave your comments, questions, feedback below.