It’s that unfortunate time of the semester again: Midterm season. A time of tests, stress and heaps of studying. Chances are your classes will try to help you in preparing for exams. They’ll hold review sessions and make study guides to help you understand what you need to focus on for the test. All those lists of information and strategies can get overwhelming. To make your life simpler, here is the only study guide you’ll ever need.

The things you think you know

A good way to start a study session is by reviewing something you actually think you understand. If you do understand it, then it should give you a confidence boost! It may not end up being on the test, but at least you’ll have a little more confidence as you try to relearn something you didn’t understand the first time. If you actually don’t understand it, at least now you can learn the correct thing.

The long rant that didn’t make sense

During a lecture, sometimes a professor will go on and on about something. By the end of the rant, you’re not entirely sure if that was important instruction or just the professor’s feelings about the topic. It can be hard to know what to study when it comes to these. As long as you understand the main point of the rant (bonus points if you can also relate it back to the rest of that lecture), then you should be good to go.

The things you didn’t write down

You can only write so fast. If a professor is running through information quickly, you’re probably missing one or two details in your notes. Look for what you’ve missed by cross-referencing the lecture slides and your notes. Even if the detail isn’t on the slides, the process might jog your memory enough that you’ll remember the detail you didn’t have time to write down. This is a good way to make sure there isn’t a reference you’re missing when you’re studying.

The things you just don’t know

This might be the most important but also the most difficult thing to study. Trying to learn something on your own is difficult and sometimes frustrating. Know that you can ask people for help if you’re really not understanding something. Once you figure it out, though, you’ll feel good about it going into the test. Even if you don’t understand it completely, it’ll still be useful to study it. You can skip parts of the test you don’t know without having to try to struggle through them.

Studying can sometimes be a little daunting. Hopefully, this list will help make the process seem a little less stressful. Good luck with your studying, and good luck on your midterms this semester!