The first few weeks of a new term feel like a blank page, easy to fill up with classes, work, clubs, and activities with friends you missed over the break. 

It’s tempting to tell yourself to ‘get serious’ later in the term, and to let yourself have the first few weeks to let yourself relax and get back into the swing of things. But then it’s two weeks before finals and you’re drowning in work, pulling one nighters every night, and most if not all your time is spent in class and in the books. 

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, nearly 25% of all college students across the United States fall into a depressive mood during the late fall, that lasts till early spring. As the days get colder and gloomier the sufferers of the winter blues experience negative changes to their mood, energy level, productivity level, and ability to concentrate. With these struggles, academics and ability to stay on top of heavy workloads are difficult to maintain for many college students. 

Rhea Banerjee, a junior and public health management and policy major at OSU, is also an Academic Learning Assistant. The responsibilities with this title include living in the dorm, holding office hours for academic help, connecting students with similar majors or classes to create study groups, and pointing students to academic resources that match their needs. 

“Just answering a lot of academic-focused questions for students and being that peer support in the building so people feel supported.” Banerjee said. 

Maintaining a good study schedule and balance between school work and free time is difficult, with the average student usually spending too much time studying or not enough.

“Having like decided chunks of time in your schedule to study and then the rest of the day is when you like catch up with friends, socialize, maybe go to clubs, Banerjee said “so that you feel like you’ve studied and you’ve done your part for the day, but you also are not constantly bogged down with work. I feel like having that is really important.”

Banerjee also shared tips for studying, with a focus on what to do with lecture notes, to get successful results. 

“What I like to do is, after a class is done, I take notes of whatever I remember from that class or from that lecture. And then I compare that with whatever was in the notes [from the lecture] and then I fill in the gaps of my learning,” Banerjee said “so that’s one of the techniques that I use. Another thing is I like taking handwritten notes. I think, I don’t know, I believe in muscle memory and that helps a lot.”

“And practice, if you’re taking a lot of STEM-based classes, definitely practice. Practice helps way more than just reading the concept.”

Many students also struggle with procrastination habits, according to research in the International Journal of Educational Research nearly 70% of college students self identify as chronic procrastinators. These procrastination habits prevalent in many college students can make starting a new term more difficult and can cause more stress to the average college student.

“​​With mindful scheduling, I feel like that helps a lot with  not procrastinating because you have  a three-hour chunk in your schedule where you’re like, oh, this is my study time,I’m not going to be doing anything other than studying,” Banerjee said “and I think study groups or studying with a friend also helps a lot because it builds accountability.”

With all the options OSU has to offer, it’s hard to know where exactly to go to get the best academic help you can, especially if you’re not completely sure how you’re best helped with academics. 

“Number one is the Academic Success Center. They have like one-to-one coaches who can tell you ‘so this is what your study schedule looks like, this is what you can be doing for better time management, for not procrastinating, for better scheduling’,” Banerjee said “they [also] have worksheets and pamphlets and booklets that…for you to be able to plan your term out…They also have workshops all the time about, again, time management. They have workshops about how to not overwhelm yourself.”

Banerjee continued to share academic resources. “I like the tutors, each college has  their own tutors. I really think that’s something that’s super cool because you have college-specific tutors that are able to  understand what kind of course you’re taking.” Banerjee stated. 

Office hours are also a highly under utilized resource that, for some, can be immensely helpful. 

“Go to office hours,I feel like office hours help so much, you’re able to work through problems with your professor. They might even give you problems that may or may not come [up] on the midterm or the final.” Banerjee said.

The switch from winter break and the start of a new term can feel blunt and harsh. Going from relaxing and replenishing after the fall term to being right back in the rush of school and a new set of classes  can feel incredibly overwhelming. 

“Slowly getting into it, reading to the syllabus, having a schedule, building your schedule before you even get back on campus, I feel like that helps to keep you super grounded and you don’t get overwhelmed the day you come back or that week that you come back.” Banerjee said. 

For more academic help you can find the Academic success center in Waldo hall on campus.