October Madness
For most students, the end of October marks the halfway point of the fall semester. Midterm exams loom. The workload has reached it’s full intensity. Deadlines are overlapping. Stress levels are starting their traditional climb from manageable to insane.
From my experience, you have two options at this point. First, you can give into to the chaos and limp through the rest of semester always behind on work, constantly stressed, suffering through one all-nighter after another while you struggle to keep the wheels on the proverbial bus.
The second option, however, is that you give the middle finger to the chaos: fight back the work onslaught and regain control.
Not surprisingly, this post describes a simple system to help achieve the latter option.
The Mid-Semester Dash
Here’s a simple system to stay in control as your semester progresses:
- Set aside next Saturday and Sunday for a “mid-semester dash.” Make no serious plans on these days. This includes a moratorium on partying. Sorry. You need to be a nerd for these 48 hours.
- Leading up to the start of the dash, catch up on your regular assignments so you won’t have this work clogging up the weekend.
- During the first day of the dash, clean out your to-do lists. Complete every non-major thing you know you need to do, but have been avoiding. This will range from the trivial — submit transcript request form — to the more complicated — apply for internship abroad. Your goal is to either throw out or finish all the annoying gunk lurking on your lists and in the back of your mind.
- During the second day of the dash, construct the plans that will get you through the rest of the semester. Develop the study schedule you will use for each midterm and final. Develop a similar schedule for all of your big papers. You’ll probably be surprised by how early you need to start some things to make all the plans work out. (I’ve come out of a mid-semester dash realizing that work on a paper due in two months had to start right away if it was going fit with everything else on my plate.)
- Diagnosis any problems with how you are currently handling your regular work. If certain assignments aren’t getting done in time, or if you’re doing worse on problem sets than you would like, adjust your plans. This is a good time to implement (or tweak) an autopilot schedule. It’s also a good time to identify and eliminate any habits that waste lots of time without producing much output. (Many students build study routines that feel comfortable, but are chocked full of inefficiency.) If you still seem short on hours in the day, then consider either dropping or taking a vacation from some of your activities.
- On the final night of your dash, symbolize your academic rebirth by doing something relaxing that has nothing to do with work. Go to a movie. Or a bar. Or if your parents live nearby, go have Sunday night dinner with them and watch stupid TV; whatever will help reset your mind.
Take Control
These two days can have a major impact on the two months to follow. The combination of clearing out the stress-inducing small stuff and then developing a plan for the rest of the semester — a plan that you can trust — has a profound impact on how the upcoming weeks will unfold. The work of the dash is not that difficult. But it’s hard to inline into a normal schedule. What makes the dash effective is that you put aside the time needed to do it right.
Of course, if you need more than two days, extend the dash. Some students have such a crazy to-do backlog that it might take two or three days to get their head back above water. Whatever works for you.
The secret, in the end, is setting yourself up for a controlled descent into the end of the semester, not a chaotic tumble.
Nice concept. I like it.
Just the sound advice I needed. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
Definitely a cool idea, planning everything out could take some time.
I guess this would be extra helpful for students who don’t follow through on their Sunday organizing rituals.
Definitely. But even with the Sunday ritual, to-do’s can back up and you might not have plans made for finals in the distant future. I see this like a mega-Sunday ritual ๐
Perfect. It’s something I do when I get sidetracked, which is two or three times a school year. I definitely like step 6 ๐
i love this post. Its so helpful and definitely something Ill be thinking about with the stress of exams and everything coming up.
Cal,amazing idea. I was literally just thinking about 10 minutes ago (while i was procrastinating lol) that I needed some sort of game plan to get through the next couple of months! I came here to get some ideas/thoughts but you’d already read my mind. Thanks!
This is fantastic! I read this yesterday and am now at the library doing step 1! This has been one of your best posts.
Yeah…loved it dude!
Just wanted to chime in and say this article was timed perfectly! I’m planning to do my Mid-Semester Dash this weekend, and I think it will make the end of the semester MUCH better than it usually is. Thanks for writing ๐
Send me an e-mail after you complete your dash. I’m gathering dash stories to help me tweak and evolve the advice to be as effective as possible.
I just scheduled my mid-semester dash for next weekend. I’m going to need it!
I don’t think this advice would have helped me in college.
But then, my purpose was different than it sounds like you’re assuming the average student’s is. I wanted to bite off more than I could chew, explore every side-question, and get lost in the madness of books. To me, I’m paying the tuition, so I don’t particularly care about how the teachers evaluate me — as long as I get what I want out of the product I’m purchasing. (And I did — with a low gpa, a billion classes on everything, and a crapton of new knowledge & ideas.)
Do you think that the TV like facebook is the ‘tool of the devil’ and should be avoided at all cost?
I just googled for effective study tips for those on a quarter system & your website popped up. I’ve read through a few of your post & I’m definitely ready to use them during this quarter. I might have to modify a few things, but overall I definitely will use everything I’ve as a guideline.
Thanks, Cal. Exactly what I needed to read!