As we reach the middle of September, school starts to become a little bit more of a challenge. Sure, we’ve been in classes for a month and finally have a handle on our schedule. And everyone knows midterm week is in October. But what people don’t know or care to tell you is that around the fourth or fifth week of school is what we like to call Test Week. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Test Week is your first chance to see exactly how your professor will be grading you for the rest of the semester, and it’s so stressful. You spend long nights in Middleton, drowning yourself in CC’s coffee (until they close at 2am of course), praying that you’ll understand something so simple like ‘the mitochondria is the power house of the cell’ by the morning because at this point you’re really not sure. Test Week can be stressful, so here are four reasons why you need to keep going this week.

1. Your mom said so.

Plain and simple. You probably called your mom crying because you don’t know what to expect for your first college exam (don’t worry, we’ve all been there; moms are the best therapists) and she told you to keep going. If you do this for anyone, do it for your mom.

2. You’re stressing yourself out too much.

Chances are, if you’ve been cramming like I have, in all likelihood you’ll pass with flying colors. Because you’re so worried and trying to prepare, you end up studying nights in advance instead of the night before (like normal).

3. It’s just a test.

Life will move on. If you fail your first test, it’s not the end of the world. Professors understand that your grade on the first test isn’t going to be as high as the rest of your grades and that’s because you’re not used to their teaching style.

4. By the end of the week, you will come to know and love Club Mid and all its odd smells.

Club Mid always smells like sadness and espresso, yet we’re faithfully there until 4am the night before a big test.

The thing about Test Week is that it’s only a week (or two for some people, and for that I’m sorry). It’s a good test run for midterms to see how much and what you actually need to study. So just keep your chin up and keep going; Christmas break isn’t that far off.