Testing is a big part of a student’s education. It is how teachers can assess what information students have understood and obtained. In some cases, a test can make or break a student’s grade.

While students are tested all throughout the year and most are very much adapted to taking tests, midterms are much more intense and, therefore, require much more preparation. The typical studying methods, although effective for most tests, do not always cut it for midterms.

Freshman Olivia Corvelli says that she is going to spread out her time for studying for midterms rather than “cramming it all in” like she usually does for other tests. “I have already started studying for some classes,” Corvelli said.

By giving herself extra time to study, she says it is helping her to “actually get it done” instead of procrastinating and doing it all at once, like she usually does. She says it is very ineffective for her to always have to “shove” all her work in at the last minute.

Corvelli says her main study guide for midterms includes all of her old notes and worksheets. In her Biology class, her teacher, Ms. Jennifer Ammirata, has kept all of her tests and quizzes so they can be easily accessible and turned into a study guide for the class. Corvelli says that she is going to use that to study for Biology along with the notes and quizlets she has made.

“It is really good to have everything you’ve done in the year,” Corvelli said.

Since she is going to be tested on all the information the class has covered since the September, she says it makes it a lot easier to use all of the tests.

When it comes to subjects that Corvelli struggles with, she says she needs to study much more. She says that those studying for the classes she isn’t comfortable with requires “twice the effort”.

“I have never been good with math” Corvelli says. She says that math isn’t her strong suite, but that just makes her more determined to do well. Corvelli has made an effort to do more practice problems for the certain topics she doesn’t understand. “The more practice, the better I’ll do,” said Corvelli.

Corvelli says that for the classes her teachers didn’t provide study guides for, she is making her own. She says she is making flashcards for vocabulary in English. “I’m not really good at memorizing definitions” Corvelli says. She says she is forced to spend her maximum time memorizing word definitions because “it is the most difficult thing” for her to do.

Megan Mulholland, freshman, says that she is very nervous for midterms. “We have learned so much in these classes and we’re expected to know everything we’ve learned since the beginning of school,” Mulholland says. She says since it’s so much information she is going to have to study much more intently.

Mulholland says that she will have to study the most for her Latin midterm. “Latin is probably my toughest subject” Mulholland says. Since it’s her most challenging class, it will take the most amount of work to be ready for.

Corvelli says although she listens to music when she study’s for regular tests, she cannot listen to music while studying for midterms. “It’s just way too much information to be paying attention to anything else” Corvelli says. She says she listens to Jack Johnson when she study’s for normal tests because it is “relaxing” and “chill”.

Mulholland says she listens to music while studying for midterms. “I need some noise in the background” she says. Mulholland says that when she listens to a song as she is memorizing information, when she is forced to recall that information she sings the song in her head and can easily remember what she needs to.

Mulholland says that she doodles on her notebook to help her remember information. She says she connects the drawing to the material by drawing it again when she takes the test.

There are many ways to deal with the stress of midterms and the preparation it takes to succeed. “I know if I study I can do well” Corvelli says. She says that although she is very nervous to be tested on so much information, she will make sure to prepare herself as best as she can.