Yes, you read that right: coats, coffee and finals. Now that Thanksgiving break is over it’s back to the real world for students. The rather short break allowed students to either go back home to visit family, travel or simply take a break and sleep a lot in their college town.

Now that Thanksgiving has passed students are faced with a daunting and rather terrifying task ahead: finals. While finals may appear to be harmless from afar, they approach quickly and leave a harsh bite if one isn’t well prepared. On that note here are five ways to gear up for finals week.

1. Relax and Take It Day By Day

Finals can be horrible if you devote all your attention to thinking about them, but you don’t have to. Realize that they are going to happen whether we like it or not. The best way to handle the stress of finals is to avoid giving them too much attention. Instead, get a game plan started and stick with it to the best of your ability. To take finals week day by day and step by step is the best way to survive and possibly excel at finals.

2. Whatever You Do Don’t Stress

It’s natural to stress during finals week, it’s going to happen. However, try no to let your stress take over, then nobody wins. Stress is a GPA killer. While simply stop stressing during finals week sounds like an impossible task there are ways of managing stress so that it is easier to function and get work during finals. Such examples include, meditation, listening to calming music and taking time for yourself to relax.

3. Take Time To Breathe

4. Get a Good Playlist Going

Speaking of enjoying the ride, find yourself a fun and upbeat playlist. Studying can be brutal and almost tedious at times, however, a boring study session can become an upbeat and dare I say “fun,” study session with a good playlist. Add some pop to studying with a good Beyoncé or Rihanna album or throw it back to “the good old days” with Green Day or Cage The Elephant, all of which are excellent choices.

5. Focus On The End Result

Sometimes while gearing up for finals it may seem like the world is falling apart. Maybe your computer crashed, maybe you lost your final paper, maybe your forgot about an assignment due in 15 minutes, whatever the case may be, the bottom line is things like to go haywire right when you need everything to be perfect. It’s easy during times like finals week to get overwhelmed by the many little things going wrong.

It’s important to focus on the end goal. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter because the bigger picture is more important. While we’re on the subject, it’s also important to remember that while goals are good, those goals aren’t a necessity for survival.

No one can deny that finals take there tool on students, especially those with a heavy course schedule. They’re stressful, time consuming and overall a real pain. However, it’s important to remember that at the end of the day they’re just tests and projects. With a little determination and a large amount of motivation they’ll be accomplished in time.