Awesome Math Girls

Mihika Bansal

Math midterms always sneak up on me when I least expect it. One moment I am flipping through notes from the most recent class, and the next moment I realize that a midterm is around the corner, covering the application problems that I never learned how to do. However, with a few right tips and tricks, the midterm will feel like a walk in the park on test day.

Preparing in Advance: 

One of the most important ways to prepare for the midterm is to begin studying early. Two or three weeks before the exam, start by compiling all of your notes, homework assignments, groupwork problems, and review sheets to create a list of all the topics, theorems, formulas, and application problems that you have covered in the semester. Then, identify the topics that feel comfortable to you and the ones that need more practice. Procrastinating and cramming for six hours straight the night before the test will be much less beneficial to the learning process. Instead, start earlier because it will help ease the stress and allow you to have more time to practice.

As you begin to work through problems, try to avoid rote memorization. Sketching graphs, color-coding steps, and making flow charts help with truly understanding the concepts and allow your brain to visualize why and how the math works. Math as a way of clicking when every step is spelled out on the paper, not by memorizing the problems and answers. 

Lastly, prioritize the quality of your preparation. Studying fifteen hours with text messages dinging, worksheets everywhere, and answer keys right next to the problems is worthless compared to a concentrated five hours of preparation with neat step-by-step solutions and a noise-free environment. 

Test Day:

On midterm day, stay positive because your attitude matters as much as the preparation. Every time I begin a test, I always mess up the first problem from nerves, so taking the minute to scan all of the questions and solving the ones you feel most confident about is worth it.

Additionally, it would not be a math test without a few challenging questions thrown in that you have never seen before. At the beginning of the exam, try not to spend too long on the problem if the method choice isn’t clear right away. Coming back to the problem later on often makes the ideas more obvious and at the very least, work through the problem as much as you can to show some understanding instead of leaving it completely blank. 

If you finish early, check your work! For me, the majority of my mistakes are small errors like forgetting to flip inequalities or missing parentheses. Simply using the last five minutes to go over the problems and evaluating if they make sense can boost your performance overall. 

Finally, remember to breathe throughout the exam. A small inhale and exhale help reduce stress and enhance concentration.

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