Every semester, we all have a mid-sem break. I don’t know about you but I never know how to spend my time during that short week. Sometimes I am so behind in uni work, that it isn’t a break, it’s a “catch up on the past five weeks of uni work” kinda of week. Sometimes, it’s a catch-up on sleep or let’s go away kinda week. Everyone is different, so I am here to give you some ideas on how to spend your time during mid-semester break depending on your circumstances.
If you are like me and you have had no idea what is going on for the first half or even the whole semester, the best way to spend your mid-sem break, unfortunately, is to catch up. I know it sounds dreadful however, going into the second half of the semester, you will feel a lot more at ease, prepared and less stressed. If you are a full-time uni student, completing four subjects normally I would assign 1-2 days to each subject, so on average 4-6/7 days of the week are used for study. For each subject, go over:
Lecture slides
Tutorial questions
Quizzes
Assignments you might have
I would suggest only going over sections you are confused about as you want to have at least 1-2 days of doing no uni work throughout the week. This is of course only a suggestion so you may only need to go over a lecture or two to feel prepared for one subject.
Usually, the mid-semester break is in the middle of the semester however, if you are a Unimelb student in your second semester, you will know that our mid-semester break is pretty late into the semester. In this case, I would use this week to start preparing and collecting notes and creating study timetables as exams and final assignments will soon approach. Although this sounds overwhelming, a week of no classes means you have a lot of free time, so still take breaks from studying and try your best to do fun activities to give yourself a break. This is also a suggestion on how to break up your time, it is something that works for me but may not work for you so take this as you will.
On the brighter side of the spectrum, if you feel you are ready to tackle the next half of the semester and only need 1-2 days of uni work, relax!
I would use this week to do the following:
Self-care
Go out with friends
Spend time with family
Do absolutely nothing
Go away for a day trip, weekend or whole week
There are some people out there who struggle with having a break and despite not having any uni work, still want to feel productive. Well, you could:
Clean your room
Clean out your closet
Clean out your camera roll (I know your storage is full)
Dress up and create new uni outfits
I know uni can be stressful, and you may feel as if you need to be productive for that week. The truth is you, you don’t. It is extremely important to give your mind and body a rest as you are only halfway through the semester. Use the mid-semester break as a refresh so that by the end of the week, you feel ready to begin the next half of the marathon.
Good luck and enjoy your break everyone!
Be like Ross, Joey and Chandler !!!
By Makayla Giovanniello