Rough first week back at school? Still in vacation mode? Well, we’ve got some great tips for you to get back into academic shape, brought to you by the Wheel‘s resident expert in studyology.

Study Groups
This is a great way for you to combine being social with doing schoolwork … or more likely, a way to procrastinate with your friends. But there’s some real potential for productivity here – just make sure you study with that one friend who has it all together. You know, that kid that gets annoyed when the class gets off-topic because they’re here to learn, not mess around. The kid that reminds you of your parents (and not in the good way). It might be a pain to try and joke around with them, but hey, at least you might get something done.

Make Checkpoints
You have an essay due in two weeks? Instead of waiting until the night before to start, make smaller deadlines during the time you have to do it, like having 500 words by the end of the first week or making an outline that’s due by a certain day. This will cut down on the tears and bloodshed that happens the night before, and it’ll reduce your overall stress, prolonging your life by years or something. For you over-achievers out there, enforce your small personal deadlines by punishing yourself if you miss one of them (although let’s not take this part too far).

Sleep
Just kidding. No one has time for that.

Go to Class
I know this one might be a little “out-there,” but new scientific studies have shown that going to your classes might help you when studying for tests and stuff. Even if you think that it’s the biggest waste of time or that there are a billion other things that you could better spend your time doing, go to the stupid thing. There’s probably some sort of unconscious learning going on even when you’re sitting bored in class with drool slowly leaking from your mouth, so showing up to class is half the battle! Maybe. I don’t really understand science.

– By Sonam Vashi 

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Sonam Vashi (15C) is a freelance journalist in Atlanta who’s written for CNN, The Washington Post, Atlanta magazine, and more.