Ace Your Midterms: 7 Powerful Midterm Study Tips for Straight A's

Got a midterm coming up in a week or two and need a guide to help you ace them all? If so, I can help. In this post, I am sharing my exact action plan that has personally helped me get A’s on my exams all four years of college.

By the end of this post, you’ll learn FIVE powerful midterm study tips that will help you effectively prepare for your college midterms. And while I can’t guarantee your grade, I am confident that if you follow these steps, you’ll do extremely well – even ace – your college exams, like I did.

Note: Studying for your midterm last minute? Then waste no more time and check out my article on 7 Last-Minute Study Hacks That Actually Works

Let’s jump in!

1. Rank Your Exams by Priority: Determine the Order of Study Based on Importance and Urgency

The first step is to effectively prioritize which college exam you need to study first, second, third, and so on.

I’ve seen so many students mess up by starting with the easy subjects first to boost their ego or leaving the hardest ones for the last minute because they hate them, but that’s a big mistake.

Once time passes, you can’t get that time back to study properly for the exam.

As such, properly ranking your exams by priority is crucial to acing your midterms. Here are a couple of ways you can do that:

You can either study for them in the order you’ll take them, or
Tackle the hardest midterms first, then move on to the easier ones in order of difficulty.

Studying for your midterms in the order you take them is usually the best strategy. However, if you know you’ll need more time for a harder exam, and the earlier midterms only require 2-4 hours of study, then I recommend that you start with the harder one first and then schedule time for the easier ones.

It’s your call. To figure out the best strategy, remember this:

Give attention where attention is due. Don’t spend 10 hours on something that only needs 2, and don’t give just 2 hours to an exam that needs 10 or more to prep for.

2) Skim Your Class Material and Build a Midterm Study Action Plan.

If you are still not sure which college exam you should prioritize first, then this next step will help.

Skim Through Material: Quickly go through all the material you think your midterm will cover. Count the chapters and take note of any problems, notes, recordings, and lectures you’ll need to review.

Assess, Don’t Study: Remember, you’re not studying yet. Just assess the amount of information you need to cover and estimate the time required to study it thoroughly.

Prioritize: Do this for each exam you’re uncertain about. Determine what you’ll tackle first and estimate the time needed for each task.

Create a Study Plan: Write down your plan. Identify which subject to start with and allocate appropriate study time for each.

Estimate Total Study Time: This will give you a rough estimate of how long it will take to study for all your exams.

Direction is Key: Top students always have a roadmap guiding them on what and when to study. This ensures every minute is spent efficiently, helping them maintain their 4.0 GPA.

Once you’ve created a rough outline of everything you’ll need to review for every college exam and you’ve decided which college exam you’re going to study first, you’ll have your own powerful study action plan to help you crush your midterms.

All you’ll need to do now is execute it!

3) Study Actively not Passively

Okay, now you’re ready to put in some real work to prepare for your exams. And you do the real work, by ACTIVELY studying for your college exams at all TIMES, not passively.

What does that mean?

This means that unless you have a photogenic memory, don’t just read through your notes (even 10x) and expect the concepts to stick to your brain.

This part seems obvious too but unfortunately, I’ve seen way too many of my colleagues follow this strategy expecting to do well on their exams and are sadly disappointed.

Don’t be like them. You need to test and drill the concepts and/or problems into your head until you fully understand and know them from memory.

One of the easiest ways to do that is by using flashcards. (It was actually my secret weapon that helped me get straight A’s on my college exams every semester. I lived and died by my flashcards).

I would literally take all my hand-written notes and throw them all into Q & A flashcards and just test myself with flashcards until I had EVERY flashcard memorized.

Once I had every flashcard memorized, I knew I was done studying for the exam and only reviewed the flashcards again the morning before (or about an hour) before the exam.

If your college exam is for a theory or history-based class focused on stories, concepts, philosophies, principles, definitions, analyses, or understanding the time period, I highly recommend you try my flashcard strategy.

If you’re taking a college math class, throw all of your formulas and rules into flash cards.

If you’re not a fan of flashcards and prefer to write out an outline instead, then do that as well. Just make sure you are drilling yourself and not just glossing over the words. Then check off each section you memorize as you go.

Is your college exam made up more of math problems or case studies?

I highly recommend you review all your past homework assignments that will be covered on the test.

Spend your time efficiently by working through each problem to ensure you understand them thoroughly. Drilling yourself with these questions will provide immediate feedback on your strengths and weaknesses, helping you identify where to focus more study time.

Which leads to the next step…

4) Keep Track of Any Concepts You Found Difficult

Plan for multiple reviews of the material. In the first round, go through all your class material and highlight/note anything you found difficult. In the second round, dive deeper into those challenging topics.

If you’re still struggling with the tough stuff and it’s a big part of the exam, ask your classmates or professor for help. Professors often provide detailed explanations if many students are having trouble.

Once you’ve tackled the hard topics, review the easier material to solidify your understanding. Effective repetition will boost your exam performance.

If you’re short on time and can only do one thorough review, address difficult topics as they come, but don’t spend too long on them if they’re only a small part of the exam (less than 20%). Make sure you also review the easier material to secure easy points on the exam.

5) Balance Study Time for Back to Back Exams

If you have a couple of back-to-back exams, you might need to switch between studying for each one.

The good news is you can still ace both with this action plan. I’ve done it multiple times.

The key to knocking them out is TIME MANAGEMENT.

You can’t just study all day for one and neglect the other. Spend a few hours on the first, then a few on the second, and keep alternating until you’ve covered everything (if time permits).

It’s better to get 80% done for both than 100% for one and 40% for the other, which might mean retaking the class next semester. (Of course, the goal is for you to ace each exam, so if you don’t think you’ll have time to review at least 95% of the material for each class, standby for my next tip on rescheduling your exam…)

I also recommend starting early. If your exams are next week, start studying now and review your other classes during the exam week.

If you realize you won’t have enough time for each exam, ask your professor (or college administrators if it’s a final) if you can take one exam on a different day.

Most colleges allow rescheduling for back-to-back exams and even have extra “exam days” for this purpose.

So, check into this option if you’re worried about having enough prep time.

6) Avoid Pulling All-nighters Like The Plague

how many hours should you study for a midterm

You might be surprised, but pulling all-nighters isn’t productive or super studious. Most of the time, your efforts won’t pay off because it’ll be really hard to remember anything during the midterm.

Even worse, according to Advanced Sleep Medicine Services, you LITERALLY LOSE brain matter during an “all nighter”. Your body needs sleep in order to “convert short-term memory into long-term memory” and if you’re not sleeping, you’re killing that process.

Nevertheless, if you HAVE TO pull an all-nighter, Advanced Sleep Medicine Services recommend that you drink coffee before you test to “perk yourself up” and boost your energy so you have enough stamina to get through your test.

(And trust me, you’ll need it. The first and last time I pulled an all-nighter in college, I’ll literally started drooling on my exam! Haha. I WISH I was lying. I was SO TIRED!!)

7) Take Breaks Often

This might be obvious, but don’t study for hours on end without a break. Take regular breaks.

If you’re an endurance studier like me, go for one-hour study sessions with five to ten-minute breaks in between.

If an hour is too long, try the Pomodoro method: 25-minute study intervals with five-minute breaks.

Breaks are crucial, especially if you’re pulling an all-nighter. You’re already pushing your brain to the limit, so make it easier on yourself. Take breaks to help your brain absorb the info. Study for about 15 minutes, then take a five-minute break.

Power naps are also a game-changer. Even a 30-minute nap can help your brain process and retain the information better.

CONCLUSION:

So there you have it. Prioritizing your exams, skimming through your material, studying actively, and taking breaks are all key to crushing your midterms.

Don’t waste time on the easy stuff just to feel good, and definitely don’t leave the hard stuff for last. Make a solid study plan, use active learning techniques like flashcards, and give extra attention to what you find challenging.

Balance your time well, especially if you have back-to-back exams, and avoid all-nighters if you can. Remember, effective studying isn’t about spending hours on end without a break; it’s about making the most of your time and giving your brain the rest it needs to perform at its best.

Good luck, you’ve got this!

*This post is about midterm study tips*