As Midterms Near, Stress Levels Rise at the University of New Hampshire
Students at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) reached the middle of their fall semester this week, October 5th. Approaching week seven of 15, midterms are on their way or have already arrived for some students.
While classes get more intense, workloads increase, and stress and anxiety levels rise, three students talked about what this is like and how they cope.
Makenna Comeau, a sophomore communications major said for her, this semester has included a lot more work than her previous semesters at UNH; she’s doing a lot more studying for weekly quizzes and exams than she’s done in the past. In preparation for her midterms, Comeau said she’ll frequent the library often, where she plans to make study tools like flashcards and rewriting her notes to better understand the concepts for each exam. Comeau also said in order to prepare, it is important that she gets a good night’s sleep the night before her midterms. While her workload is increasing, she is trying to stay on top of it all.
“I use an agenda to help balance my social life, activities, work and hobbies along with my school work,” she said. “An agenda helps me set aside time for myself and reminds me of due dates so that I do not fall behind.”
Another student, Jack Grabicki, a freshman marine biology major likes to play his guitar to help with his increased stress and irregular sleep schedule. Grabicki’s sleep schedule has worsened throughout the semester because of his extensive workload. This affects what time he’s getting to bed and what time he wakes up to allow himself enough time to finish work and study. He said his school work started out to be very little and this week it hit him hard. Although he is stressed, Granicki has a plan on how to maintain his grades throughout midterms.
“I’d like to study with a group, ask my roommates to help me where they can and go to the library where I can study on my own,” he said.
Tyler Longo, an undeclared freshman, prioritizes his work during the week so on the weekends he can spend more time with his friends. While school work is piling up for him, he copes with his stress by eating candy. With an irregular sleep schedule adding to his stress levels, he tries to find ways that help himself relieve it. Longo has not taken any midterm exams yet but is studying ahead of time to help himself prepare.
“I haven’t taken any midterms, but I’ve had a couple exams prior to this week. It took a lot of time to study and prepare for each of them, so I’m trying to get ahead now,” Longo said. “Since I am undeclared, I am taking a lot of generals so some of my courses don’t relate at all, which makes studying at the same time harder.”
All three students share commonalities in the ways they like to relieve stress; they enjoy hanging out with friends, watching television or playing video games and exercising in some manner.
