Every year on the first week of college, each and every student promises themselves that they will be proactive this semester and not leave studying to the last minute. As you all know, however, very few students fulfill these promises and suffer from mini heart attacks as soon as exams roll around. The realization that you are completely screwed can occur mid-shot at a frat party or as you are ordering your coffee from Starbucks. Now that you have put yourself in a fragile position (don't worry, there are plenty others with you), all you have to do is follow these three life saving hacks to salvage your GPA!

1) LISTS, LISTS, AND MORE LISTS!

For the last nineteen years, I have refused to make any sort of list or use a planner and those were the biggest mistakes of my life. From planning surprise birthday parties to tackling three exams on the same day - lists are the perfect solution! I would recommend making three lists: the first for all of your assignments, meetings, and scheduled-in breaks, another for all of your exams and their respective dates, and finally one for each individual exam and what you need to do to prepare for them! They will not only help you schedule your time appropriately, but also make sure you don't waste time trying to figure out what to do next!

2) STUDY PREP

You might be wondering, why in the world would I need to prepare to study? This, however, is the most essential step because it gets you in the "let's cram for twenty-four hours straight to memorize four weeks worth of information" mode. Ultimately, this prevents you from utilizing that extra time you would have had if you had just prepared in advance. All you have to do is follow these simple steps:

a) Figure out how much caffeine you are going to need, and bring it into your room. If you prefer other methods of inducing sleeplessness, you can bring those up to your room as well!

b) Make sure all of your books, notes, and stationary are on your desk and ready to use (each trip to out of your room is another page wasted)!

c) Please wear comfortable clothes that don't cut off circulation. You don't need to wear super skinny jeans or a dress when you're trying to stay up all night (for reasons other than to party, of course).

3) ACTUALLY USE YOUR SCHOOL SUPPLIES

Note cards, sticky notes, highlighters, and notebooks with inspirational quotes are surprisingly very useful and aren't great for just Instagram pictures! Trying to memorize fifty vocabulary words? Write them down on a note card! Bored of the black ink that has taken over your life? Use those colorful pens or highlighters that have become decoration pieces on your desk! It also helps to add any comments your professor specified on sticky notes so that you don't miss a question that was specifically addressed earlier!

And most importantly, make sure that you're actually awake for the exam! Good luck, and happy midterming!