It’s no secret that college is hard. With so many things to balance like work, school, friends, and extracurricular activities, it’s no wonder college students are always stressed out. And midterm season can make this stress even worse. Studying for midterms alone is enough to make anyone feel burnt out, not to mention keeping up with your grades while trying to finish midterm projects. If you’re struggling with your grades, and you’re trying to find some ways to get them up then creating good habits at school is a good way to start.

Good study habits are just the start of helping your grades, and it’s important to know that techniques for helping your grades that might work for others might not be right for you. Everyone learns in a different way and everyone has a different trick for helping them keep up with their schoolwork. Helping your grades isn’t just about studying; sometimes all you need to motivate you to work on your grades is a healthy and easy way to let out stress so that you can focus on your work. Stress of college can sometimes prevent us from doing our best in our classes. But stress isn’t the only thing that can hinder us in class; with college comes many challenges in school. So if your grades have suffered lately and you’re looking for a way to bring your grades up after midterms, keep reading for some tips to help you achieve your goals! 

Creating Healthy Study Habits

Studying doesn’t have to be boring! 

Studying. No one really likes to do it, and sometimes it’s easier to put it off for another time than to ever actually commit time to studying reading a textbook the size of a dictionary. Long hours in the library, math equations that don’t make sense, and long passages in books are all things you might dislike about studying for class. But studying is a major part of college and it’s the first step to helping your grades. 

The important thing to remember about studying is that you don’t have to do it alone, and there’s no “right” way to do it. Everyone has different study habits and everyone learns differently. Maybe you study better with friends who can help quiz you on your knowledge. Study groups are a great way to motivate you to do school work. Sometimes working with friends or classmates can allow you to bounce ideas off of each other and help you understand your assignments better! Studying in a group is also a great way to hold yourself accountable to do your work. 

Plan a study date at the library with your friends, grab some coffee and some snacks, and make a night out of it. If you make your study session a fun event, you’re more likely to look forward to it and less likely to skip it!  Studying with a group is also a good opportunity to utilize chalkboard space. Make a game out of your studying material and use a chalkboard to lay out the answers and points. Having a visual and quirky way of studying course materials will make your study session a little more fun, especially with a group of friends! Sometimes just writing out your thoughts on the board can also help you remember them! 

If studying with a group doesn’t work for you, try finding a quiet area in the back of the library to work on your assignments. Listening to music is a good way to help block out any background noise that might break your concentration. If music is distracting, try listening to a form of white noise or an instrumental playlist. This way you won’t be tempted to sing along to the new Cardi B. song instead of trying to memorize information for a big test. 

If none of these tips work and you’re still struggling, or you just don’t seem to be able to understand the coursework or assignment, try using your campus’s academic resources. Most colleges have some form of tutoring service that you can utilize to help you gain an extra advantage when doing your schoolwork. A tutor (usually another student) can help you figure out what you might not be able to grasp so that you can learn your class materials and use them for success! There’s no shame in seeking help with your classes, and it might just pay off in the end! 

Get Organized

With so many assignments, appointments, and social activities it’s easy to feel like your life is a little crazy in college. Keeping organized is important if you want to stay on top of everything, especially your grades. It’s easy to become disorganized at school because you’re busy, so finding ways to stay organized that fit your personal preferences and schedule is important. It’s much easier to get your work done when you know exactly when it’s due. Organizing your assignments by date will help you get your work done on time.

Being organized doesn’t mean you have it all together either. Sometimes being organized is just having a system that works for you (and might not for others) that helps you stay on task and sets you up for success! When you have a system for doing things, you’re more likely to stay on top of your grades! There’s no right way to stay organized in college either. Ever heard of organized chaos? That’s pretty much what college is all about! So if you find a system that works for you, stick with it. 

One way to stay organized at school is to have a place to write down everything important, and to put it somewhere you can see it. Out of sight, out of mind can be a real concept in college, so having a way of showing what’s due, what’s going on, and anything important is an easy way to make sure you don’t forget it! This can mean investing in a planner, or a large calendar for your dorm space. It might be easier for you to stay on task if you can see your assignments everyday on your dorm room wall. Sometimes a small planner isn’t enough.

Let’s face it, we’ve all bought a planner at one point, written in it once, and then never looked at it again. If planners don’t help you stay on track, consider investing in a large calendar or dry-erase board for your room. Having a large place either on your desk or on your wall to write important things on might help you stay focused on what’s due and when! This is also a great way to keep track of your social plans, class schedule, and other extracurricular activities. Having a place to write it all down in one spot can help you keep it all organized.

If you’re less of a visual person and more of a technology buff, there are plenty of apps available that can help keep you on track with your goals and assignments. These apps can range from anywhere between calendar alerts, to apps that lock your phone for increments of time so you can get some studying done! Using an app is a good way to stay organized because you might not always carry a planner around, but almost everyone always has their phone. This allows you to be able to access your school assignments and due dates anywhere and at any time! 

Another easy way to stay organized is to try and stick to a routine and set some boundaries for yourself. Keeping to a routine will help you feel more comfortable doing your work, because it will become second nature to you. Your routine doesn’t have to include anything crazy like waking up at five am either. A routine can be just making an effort to work on your school assignments every day at a certain time. It might be hard to develop this routine in the beginning but once you get the hang of it and do it more frequently, you won’t even have to think about it in the future!

This regularity will help you get what you need done. A large part of what can affect our grades is just being overwhelmed with school and not knowing where to start. Having a routine can help fix this! Setting boundaries (like not allowing yourself to go out on the weekend until you finish your assignments) is another way to help you stay on track! Think of it like when you were younger; chances are your parents wouldn’t let you have dessert if you didn’t eat your vegetables. Try to challenge yourself in a similar way; finish your assignments for the week before you go out with friends! 

Remember to treat yourself 

Who said care packages had to be sent from someone other than yourself?

If you’re a fan of Donna and Tom from Parks and Rec, then you already know the importance of their number one rule: to “treat yo self.” When we get caught up in the craziness of school, especially around midterms, it is very easy to become overwhelmed and this can cause our grades to suffer. While doing nothing but getting mani pedis won’t help your grades, using these small rewards to yourself might just be the motivation you need to get your grades up and succeed in school! 

Speaking of treating yourself, why not gift yourself a care package to keep you going through midterms and after? Whoever said that care packages could only be gifted by family and friends? It’s 2022; if you can survive a pandemic, you can certainly buy yourself your own care package! A care package won’t solve all your problems, but it will give you some treats and snacks to help fuel you during those long study nights in the library, or as a treat after a particularly hard test. With so many care package options, there’s one that everyone will like. Buy yourself a care package to celebrate crushing your next test, or bringing your grades up!

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Treat yourself in the best way with a care package! This one from OCM has a variety of student favorites to try!

One way you can indulge yourself for the betterment of your grades is with your favorite treat. If studying is a hard thing to get yourself motivated to do, make a habit of getting your favorite iced coffee to reward yourself for memorizing a particularly hard topic for your next test. Or maybe you struggle with just a specific subject and can’t bring yourself to be interested in reading about it. Use the method of rewarding yourself a small treat after every few paragraphs you read. This might help motivate you to finish your required readings for class. 

Or if it’s more motivating, reward yourself with a bigger treat after you finish the assignment. This can motivate you to just push through and finish the assignment without too many breaks to slow you down. Another good tip to use would be to pick a day (or two) out of the week that is designated to working on your assignments, and make it exciting by studying at a cafe that serves your favorite drinks. Or, find a place on campus that you love to go and study there. Our environment can have a large impact on our mood, so pick a place to study that sets you up for success! 

Another way you can celebrate your hard work and keep yourself motivated to continue crushing it at school is by taking care of yourself. Plan a self-care night with friends, take a night off to do nothing but lay in bed, or go out every once in a while. These things won’t automatically bring your grades up, and you might even have to put them off sometimes because you have to study. But remembering to take care of yourself is the first step toward success at school. How can you expect yourself to succeed and stay focused on your goals and grades if you only ever feel burnt out at school? 

College is supposed to be fun, and is all about learning new things to help you. But it can sometimes be hard to see it like this when you’re feeling stressed or worn out. Taking time to yourself after a stressful week (midterms week we’re looking at you!) is key to making a fresh start the following week so you can get back to working on your grades and being your best self! Grades and schoolwork are important, but so are you! So don’t forget to take care of yourself first. When you take care of yourself, you set yourself up to succeed at any task you encounter! 

Whatever your preference or approach to your schoolwork is, just remember to do what works for you. College life can be hard, and the subjects you learn can be even harder. But college is also about challenging yourself to be a better you! So find what works for you and stick with it. Don’t get discouraged by comparing yourself to others, because everyone has a different way of learning and a different way of dealing with school. 

When thinking about how to help your grades if you find them lacking after midterms, you might have to try a couple different approaches until you find the one that sticks. But don’t get discouraged! Just remember that you’ve got this, and you can do anything you set your mind to. So whatever works for you when it comes to succeeding in school and helping your grades, stick with it and your grades will show your hard work paying off!