Third year is a lot. Check in with yourself.
MindMate is for APU 3rd year students. FYP, internships, group assignments and figuring out what comes after graduation, often all in the same week. Take a few minutes to see how you're really doing, and get support matched to your result.
- FYP progress report−30%
- Internship applications−25%
- Group assignment chasing−20%
- Sleep5 hrs
Stress in final years is common. Asking for help should be too.
Most students know they're stressed. Fewer know how stressed, or where to go about it. MindMate makes checking in and reaching out easier for every 3rd year at APU.
Heavier workload
Final year projects, more modules with group work, and higher stakes on every grade.
Career pressure
Internships, CVs, interviews and the question of what happens after you graduate.
Less time to recover
Sleep, meals, exercise and friends are usually the first things to go.
Feeling stressed doesn't mean you're weak. It means you're carrying a lot, and that's worth paying attention to.
How are you really doing?
The check-in covers stress, anxiety, workload and overwhelm. It uses two questionnaires that are widely used in research and health care, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) and the GAD-7 anxiety scale, plus four questions we wrote about 3rd year workload.
Get support
There are two ways to get help. Call a helpline if you want to talk to someone right now, or book a session with a counsellor or therapist for ongoing support.
Talk now
Free and confidential, no appointment needed. You don't need to be in crisis to call. Feeling overwhelmed is reason enough.
Book a session
Contact these services directly. MindMate doesn't collect your details or book on your behalf. If you're not sure where to start, start with APU's counsellors. It's free and on campus.
Contact details were checked against each organisation's own website in October 2026. Hours and fees can change, so confirm when you call.
Small things that help in 3rd year
- Break your FYP into tiny tasks
- "Write the literature review" is hard to start. "Find 3 papers on X" is not.
- Protect your sleep
- An all-nighter usually costs you more time the next day than it saved.
- Raise group work problems early
- Uneven workload is a common stress source. Talk to your group before it builds up.
- Move for 10 minutes
- A short walk around campus resets your focus better than another hour of scrolling.
- Say no sometimes
- You don't have to join every event, club or side project this semester.
- Tell one person
- A friend, a lecturer or a counsellor. Saying it out loud makes it lighter.
Sources
- Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24(4), 385–396. (PSS-10)
- Spitzer, R. L., Kroenke, K., Williams, J. B. W., & Löwe, B. (2006). A brief measure for assessing generalized anxiety disorder: The GAD-7. Archives of Internal Medicine, 166(10), 1092–1097.
- Workload questions written by the MindMate team for this campaign. They are not a validated scale.
- Helpline and clinic details: Malaysian Mental Health Association, mmha.org.my/find-help; APU, Student Well-being; Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Psychiatry department; HCTM UKM, Contact us; Thrive Well, thethrive.center; Relate Malaysia, relate.com.my; TherapyRoute (2025), How much does therapy cost in Malaysia?