By Tara Martinelli

It is the best of times, it is the worst of times. If you’re like me, October is hitting you hard. All I want to do is put on a sweater and a scarf, go apple-picking and drink some spiked cider (being 21 is a good time). However, little things called midterms seem to be on a mission to steal the joy and laughter from my life. Instead of falling in love with fall, I am being dragged into the depths of the underworld by exams. Alas, it’s a great time of year, and we have to do it up the way it is meant to be done.

My first tidbit of advice for all of you is to make a list, check it twice and then decide whether you want to be naughty or nice. Don’t decide to go to Oktoberfest in Manhattan, and then realize you have a paper due the next morning at 8 a.m. By no means am I telling you to not go to Oktoberfest, but that sinking feeling of regret upon realizing your negligence will definitely crush your vibe—at least be aware of the responsibilities you’re ignoring. Or maybe being aware of the paper ahead of time will assist you in getting it done early. What a novel idea.

On your list of things to do, you should also budget time for the fun things you just have to do this month. In my opinion, college is so much more than the grades you get on your midterms. When you’re 70 years old and on the shuffleboard court with your friends, you want to be able to look back and laugh about the time Tina got so scared in the haunted house that she shed actual tears, not about the time you thought you ran out of money for printing, actually had just enough and leapt for joy. Both are great times, but one makes you hate yourself just a little less. So go to the haunted house, corn maze or the Hunt—it’ll only make your responsibilities totally unbearable if you don’t.

Of course, studying inevitably needs to be a portion of your October planning. It’s boring, it’s painful and it’s the reason we are all here. Believe it or not, I actually have some study tips that’ll hopefully alleviate some of the torture we’re all going through.

We’ve all heard not to wait until the last minute to study. Until you actually try it, you won’t believe in the wonders studying ahead of time does for you. I’m not an all-nighter kind of gal, so studying early is key for me. Taking frequent dance breaks is also important to me. Waiting until 12 hours before the test to start studying doesn’t allow for the number of dance breaks as I require.

I also always try to talking to my classmates as part of my studying. Odds are, during the 10 minutes you basically blacked out last Monday because all you could focus on was the guy shaking his leg next to you, someone else in the class was listening to the professor. Think strategically when planning out your study groups as well. Don’t walk into the study session without having opened a book yet. No one wants to teach you everything you need to know. On the flip side, don’t put yourself in a situation where you think you’ll take on the professor’s role; trust me, you’ll get frustrated with everyone around you. Stay off Rate My Professor; you’re only going to see what you want to see and add to the stress of the group. And most importantly, don’t keep asking things like, “Do you think this exam is going to be hard?” Yeah, buddy, that’s why I’m studying…

After midterms are over and our hopefully passing grades come back, it’s time to get spooky. I’ve recently realized that Halloween can be a pretty polarizing holiday (just talk to my sister about her hatred for the day) but no matter what your feelings are toward it, it cannot be ignored when you’re a college student. Parties and events around campus will force you to acknowledge the holiday. No one likes a party-pooper, so do everyone, and yourself, a favor and have some kind of costume in mind. It can be as low-effort or as involved as you want. Maybe you’re the type of person who likes to put a name tag on with a different name and call it a costume. Or maybe you’re the type to watch hundreds of YouTube videos on how to make the perfect bonnet from “The Handmaid’s Tale.” (You can probably guess which person I am—making bonnets is harder than you would think.)

This month is all about finding the balance between work and play. It can be really easy to get too caught up in either of the two when there’s so much ahead of us. It’s a game of trade-offs, but if you have your priorities in check, you’ll be just fine. Contrary to what most believe, studying more is not always the right answer (cue my mother’s tears). You need to enjoy these glorious four years that go by all too quickly. At the end of the day, even if we’re covered in bumps and bruises, we know we’re all going to make it out of the depth of the underworld just fine.