Chances are, your first midterm is already upon you — or will be in the next two weeks. For those who are new to the season, welcome to the experience of multiple stressful months. But it isn’t a time for despair. If you take on the situation calmly, you can come out in one piece and possibly even with a good grade, to boot. Here are some tips for the best way to handle the plethora of midterms coming up.

Make studying a regular part of your routine

This is mainly aimed at freshmen. You might’ve been able to learn weeks’ worth of material in one night in high school, but those days are long gone. Make an effort to take a small bit of time out of every couple of days to review what you learned in class. You can ramp up your studying right before the midterm, but if you studied before, you will feel better. It’ll seem less like having to learn something completely new and more of a reminder of something familiar.

Sleep before midterms

This is a simple piece of advice that seems to get repeated ad nauseum. But it’s actually true! If you cram right before your test and get no sleep, you’ll be thinking about how you desperately need a nap, rather than about the material. It also keeps you from feeling badly for the rest of the day. This is a huge plus after a midterm.

Be positive about the test

Go into the test thinking about what you do know rather than what you don’t. When coming out of an exam, think about which questions you got right. This is a way to show what you know, and isn’t an evaluation of who you are. Thinking like the latter makes every test seem terrifying and might make you think you’re a failure afterward.

Don’t worry about stuff far in the future

Study a reasonable amount at regular intervals before the test. If you try to prepare yourself too early, you’ll just burn yourself out on studying. Studying too far in advance might wear you down before your midterm, causing you to forget the material. Think about the midterm right in front of you and work on that issue first. Don’t let a test worry you before you want it to.

Try to relax before the test

Take a deep breath and try to be relatively calm. It’s OK to be nervous, but remember that you can’t do anything to make the test easier while sitting and waiting for it to be handed out. Just take it easy so that when the test comes, you can tackle it methodically and avoid any silly mistakes.

Hopefully, these tips will help make midterms as enjoyable as they can be. Good luck on all your midterms, Bears!