The middle of October means cooler weather, football and Halloween snacks, which is great. But it is also when the midterm wave comes in and crashes on each student’s party, causing students to perform a balancing act between having Fall fun and prepping for crucial exams. It is a time of countless all-nighters and cramming for examinations that unfortunately all fall within the same week of each other in the case of many students at the institution and at institutions throughout the United States of America.

The state of New Mexico was ranked 49^th in the nation for on-time graduations, according to a report from the Higher Education Department for the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee, in 2015. That puts pressure on the students of NMSU to strive and do well in every one of their courses.

Ian McNeal, a first-year graduate student at NMSU, has had his fair share of midterms that he has had to take. McNeal, studying mechanical engineering, is also a tutor at the Campus Tutoring Center, located on the second floor of the Corbett Center Student Union Building.

“When I was an [undergraduate student], I had a never-ending cascade of midterms,” McNeal explained. “I would have one [midterm exam] one week and then another one the next week and then another one the next week and then by the time that one was over I’d have one in the same class I had the first one in.”

McNeal expressed that the best strategy when studying for exams that are math and science based was to do the problems and to ask for help from a peer or the professor if you are not grasping a certain concept. Obtaining his bachelor’s degree in May of 2017, McNeal has also had experiences in other types of classes.

“A lot of other subjects have to do with having an understanding of the material and what you need to memorize and recognizing patterns,” he said. “When I had to take classes in other colleges, I would have to study the material and try to think of a way to find a pattern in it so I could remember it without just rogue memorization.”

Being a graduate student, McNeal has a great deal more experience with midterm examinations than undergraduates including 6-hour study sessions and working page long differential equations.

His advice to students this midterm season is, “The more you study for them beforehand, the less stressful they’ll be during.”

The stress that midterms put on students can be a bit overwhelming at times. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness’s survey, College Students Speak: A Survey Report on Mental Health, revealed that almost 64 percent of the students who drop out of college do so for mental health reasons. Dealing with stress in college is not impossible, however.

“Whenever I would just get too worked up about something or just couldn’t function anymore, I would go work out at the [Activity Center],” McNeal mentioned. A lover of the outdoors, he said that he would go on hikes and bike rides to clear his mind, as well.

Study hard this midterm season, but don’t forget to take care of your needs and take breaks when needed.