It’s finals season, yet again.

College students far and wide are scrambling to look over their notes, make flash cards, re-read their textbooks and pray for a miracle. Finals may actually be a breeze for some, but for others? They trigger the “fuck, I never actually learned shit!” alarm. So what do you do when your final is days away, and you can’t remember ANYTHING you learned throughout the semester?

1.) Calm down.

Honestly, if you’ve been making good grades throughout the semester, you should be fine. Nine times out of 10, all of the info that was included in your assignments and quizzes will be on your final. And even if you end up failing your final exam, it won’t be enough to make you fail the class. You might get bumped down a letter grade, but you’ll be fine.

On the other hand, if your grades are not so good…

2.) Talk to your professor.

I swear, sometimes your performance in the class isn’t as bad as you think. Talk to your professor about your current grade, and ask about the minimum you need to make on the final to pass the class. You might only need a 59 on the final to avoid taking the course again.

But if you need an 89 or better…

3.) CRAM LIKE CRAZY!

Academic professionals advise against this, but regardless, this seemed to work for a lot of my classmates over the years. Get some flash cards, review your study guide (if your professor was nice enough to give you one), re-highlight your notes, re-read the chapters you need and take extra notes, take frequent breaks to avoid a mental break down, and get a classmate to quiz you right before the test starts. Cramming isn’t easy, and it’s taught me to study ahead of time (not really), but you can make it work. I wouldn’t advise doing this for EVERY test, but sometimes life gets in the way and we fall behind. Only use cramming when necessary, not when you “don’t feel like” being on top of your studies.

To all of our readers who are in the mist of this Final Exam storm, we wish you the best of luck. Be sure to eat a well-balanced breakfast, try to get enough sleep the night before and relax. You got this!