It’s getting to be that time of the year again. The lights go up on the trees, decorations go up on people’s doors…and all the students retreat to the library for two weeks straight.

My Facebook feed over the past few days has been inundated with posts all about the impending reckoning that final exams are bound to bring. One of my professors yesterday even joked that “the hearses will be waiting for you outside once you’ve finished the exam” (or at least I hope he was joking, anyway).

I’ve always found it a little bit ironic that what’s supposed to be the happiest time of the year inevitably becomes the most stressful for college age students. After three straight months of studying the same material, one can certainly begin to feel worn down, but at the same time succeeding on a final exam becomes next to impossible if a person can’t bring themselves to put in the work to study for the test.

I think a lot of us assume that a stressful final exam season is just the nature of the beast when it comes to being a college student, but I don’t believe it always has to be that way. You can’t go back and make yourself work harder in the earlier weeks of the school year nor can you change your grades up to this point to take off some of the pressure of exams in classes that you’re struggling in. Moreover, you can’t drop a class at this point, which might seem cruel when this is the time that you probably know best whether or not you can actually survive a class.

That doesn’t mean you’re completely powerless though. Plenty of students end up surviving final exams every semester, and you will likely be no different. There are some good strategies that a lot of us forget about when it comes to doing well on exams. Space out your study time so that you’re not always finding yourself overwhelmed by the material you’re going over. Don’t pull all-nighters when you’re trying to study; the sleep you miss out on will do you worlds more harm compared to the study time you’d lose by actually resting. Make sure to eat enough food during the day, and remember that cigarettes and coffee aren’t substitutes for actual meals.

Talk to your professors too. If there’s a class in which you’ve been putting the effort in but you just legitimately feel you can’t pass, bring that up to them. A lot of teachers are understanding; they might give you the option of taking an incomplete and making up the work later. It’s not always the most preferable decision, but it’s better than simply accepting failure.

Above all else though, keep in mind that finals are not the be-all and end-all of your existence. The semester will end. You’ll get a grade for your class. You might do well, or you might not. However, even getting an F in a class won’t stop the sun from rising tomorrow. Sometimes it’s easy to feel as though your entire future will hinge upon one letter grade, so it can be helpful to stand back and ask yourself, “What is this to eternity?” Remember to be in control of your world and not to let your world control you.

Brandon Bub is a sophomore majoring in English and edits The Daily Campus opinion column. He can be reached for comment at [email protected]