Swimming against the tide: Students try not to fall into burnout

In Intro to Communication, taught by Dr. Jamie Gillies, two midterm assignments are worth 25 per cent and 30 per cent. (Sabrina Zabatiero AQ)

As the days get shorter and colder, midterm season arrives at St. Thomas University (STU) and many students say the stress comes with it. It is part of academic life and it has been for years.

Faith Vandermeer, a third-year student majoring in criminology and criminal justice, has four midterms this semester alone. 

She says she’s “pushing through,” yet with midterms around the corner and exams underway,  it all has cost,“ a lot of all-nighters, just studying and stressing about it.” 

First-year student Gyana Cairo takes a calmer approach. Having an understanding that if a midterm goes south, she has the confidence to bounce back. 

I’ve reached the mindset that it is what it is,” she said. “If I do bad, I do bad. If I do good, I do good.”

Some things have changed. Dr. Chris Van den Broeck, the English as a Second Language (ESL) Professor and Coordinator said, “Those days of 65% on finals are over, hopefully.”

Not every professor wants midterms to hold so much weight in a final grade. In his course, Van den Broeck removed midterms and had his students focus primarily on assignments. For Broeck, the number matters less than what a midterm teaches. 

“Professors don’t want to inflict misery on their students,” he said. “Especially at STU, professors want to see you succeed.” He adds that “it’s not the end of the world if you fail,” because how students deal with failure says more about them than their success does. “It’s more about life than academics.”

He also suggests an elimination strategy for multiple-choice tests: rule out the answers you are sure are wrong, then decide between the remaining two.

Asking for help is part of the solution. Both students recommend talking to professors early. Cairo fell behind in philosophy, booked an appointment with her instructor and said it got her back on track. Vandermeer recommends using office hours from the start of the year, because she thinks professors “want you to succeed.” 

STU Mental Health also offers counselling hours, therapy dogs, group therapy and other activities for decompressing, like painting and planting nights. Needing support is not a weakness. It is part of learning how to get through stress, which is something university prepares students for life after classrooms.