By Kati Bush

Christmas break is so close, we can almost taste the home-cooked meals and Christmas cook­ies that come with it. However, in or­der to achieve that sweet, sweet free­dom, there is just one thing standing in our way: finals.

Finals. Even the sound of the word can send shivers down your spine. All those years as a kid when our parents told us that we were special just the way we are seem to fly out the window the week of finals. Love it or hate it, the school system in this country has dic­tated that if we want to amount to any­thing, we have to do well on our finals. Happy thoughts.

Here are three things I would con­sider to be the most important things to remember when you’re getting ready for a big test.

Steer clear of the Internet. You can share that funny cat picture later. That tweet will still be there tomorrow to favorite. And for heaven’s sake, you’ve seen Gangnam Style a hundred times already.

Put your cell phone away and focus. It is so easy to spend two straight hours on the Internet, but complete torture to buckle down and study for an hour.

Rewrite, don’t reread. The worst pos­sible thing you can do is reread your entire textbook. For starters, it’s pretty unlikely that you’re going to retain even half of the information you read.

I would even venture to say that you’re more likely to end up using that textbook as a pillow than you are to re­tain information by reading it the night before your final. Go back over your notes.

Rewrite information you are having trouble remembering. You have a 70 percemt higher retention rate on infor­mation you write down, so it’s worth the time.

Take breaks. Give yourself some time to recharge and clear your mind. Spend­ing eight straight hours locked in your room, glued to your chemistry notes, will not help your grade or your sanity.

Take a walk, socialize, grab a bite to eat, or reward yourself with a half hour of your favorite TV show.

Besides all that, the most important thing to remember is that it’s not the end of the world. You will get through this.

Don’t run yourself ragged staying up until 3 a.m. every night studying for that philosophy final. At the end of the day, as long as you did your best, that’s all that really matters.