How To: Prepare for your Midterm the Night Before

Just as the air gets cooler, the leaves change to a golden brown color, and you finally unveil your sweater collection, you get the notification you least expect. And no, it’s not your ex breaking no contact. It’s your favorite app, Canvas: “Assignment Created - Midterm 1.” You look at your phone, stunned. It's midterm season? Already? You just finished decorating your dorm, and now this?

You hope it’s a mistake – maybe even a glitch. But nope. There it is, in all its terrifying glory. But hey, no need to freak out. You tell yourself, I’ve totally got this. Right? (Spoiler: you don’t). Luckily, you have your favorite blog to help you prepare.

Ask Past Students for “Advice”

Start with the obvious: text everyone you know. It can’t hurt, can it? Obviously, others have taken the class before, sat through lectures, completed assignments, and still remember(?) the midterm. So it's fine to text your peers, studying for other classes, if they have any last-minute “advice” for you. After all, one little text to a Lamonster will do them a favor and give them a break from their hours-long study sesh. Hit them with the “Heyyy! You took Stat 110, right? ;)” and cross your fingers for a response.

Avoid all Distractions

In class, you were probably on your phone, scrolling through TikTok or “sneakily” checking group chats, praying no one notices how zoned out you are. That stops now. Throw your phone into the void that is the bottom of your backpack. Say no to grabbing boba with your friends (your bank account couldn’t handle it anyway). Ignore that Sidechat notification – Obama isn’t on campus. You need to focus, and distractions are your enemy. You're not just here to study; you're here to cram like your GPA depends on it (because it kind of does?).

Calculate the Percentage

It’s not worth that much of your final grade… probably. As you contemplate studying, remember that one midterm exam is just a chunk fraction of your grade, and you can make up your lost points by acing that final, showing up to lecture (starting now), and participating in sections from here on out. With that, you’ll be on the road to success in getting that A with a midterm grade that didn’t break you because you nailed everything else, hopefully. Realize that final grades are what count, no one sees what you got on that fall midterm of 2024, so don’t fret. It’s just 20 percent, chill.

Face Reality

Realistically, you are not retaining any information. You’ve got a mountain of readings to catch up on and you skimmed a Google document that hasn’t been opened since the second (maybe first?) week of class. Let’s face it — at this point, studying probably won’t make a difference. It’s too late to pull off some miracle, and stressing isn’t going to magically implant the information into your head. Don’t worry, you have so many more tests ahead of you to fail to pass. Maybe next time you’ll start studying before the night of?

So, midterm season is here, and the harsh truth? It never really ends. Once one midterm is over, another is lurking right behind it, ready to ruin your weekend plans. Honestly, we wrote this article to procrastinate studying for our own midterms, so we totally get you. Sure, this one might feel like a setback to your winter arc, but hey, it’s all part of the journey (or so we tell ourselves).

Let’s be real, though — maybe this blog post wasn’t as helpful as you hoped. No amount of last-minute advice will save you (or us) if you keep putting everything off until the night before. So, stop procrastinating, close this tab, and go actually study. Your GPA (and future self) will thank you.