Finals are coming up and we’ve all been there. The paper’s due in 10 hours, it’s 12 am, and you’re about to start. It’s cram time. When you’re in that position, you don’t have time to waste, below are the best ways to hand that paper in on time and still do well.

1. Turn your phone on airplane mode

It's crunch time, and you don't need the distraction of Snapchat's Discovery pages or Buzzfeed to keep you from working. Put the phone away open your essay in a new Chrome window without other tabs to distract you, and tune out your friends. You need to focus on your paper and nothing else.

2. ALWAYS start with an outline

If you don’t start with an outline, you’re already making a mistake (on top of putting off your paper). You don’t have a lot of time to organize your thoughts and get it down on paper and you need to know your thesis going into the paper. It’s easier if you compile your ideas all at once and gather your quotes in order, so when writing you could easily refer to your thoughts to keep a clean essay and get back on track if you get writer’s block.

3. MLA (Unless otherwise specified)

MLA is an easy way to add a few more lines to your paper, and if you add your last name and page number at the top manually instead of in a header it’ll add a line to every page. If you have a page limit it makes it much easier to reach and by setting your formatting beforehand you’ll know how far you have while still working.

4. If you’re struggling to start…

Skip your intro paragraph and go right into your body. You won’t get caught up on trying to get a good hook or proper phrasing of your thesis. Plus by knowing your destination when you get back to writing it, the intro will be sure to directly correspond to the body. Just be sure to go back and add one later

5. Write frenzied, edit later

Get your ideas down, keep typing and go back to fix things later. If you re-read each sentence after writing it you’re wasting time. Just keep putting thoughts down and you can tighten up paragraphs and clarify sentences later.

6. When struggling for words….

Write a filler, just “find quote” or something like that, highlight it, and keep going. Return to the thought later, either at the end of the paragraph, if it comes back to you later, or when you finish the paper. It’s more important to keep moving and it’s worth it to see if it comes to you rather than put something weak.

7. Edit

When you’re finished, edit it and edit it again. Clean it up, get rid up excess words, make sure you have all your transitions. Then you should go to bed, and try to wake up an hour before it’s due to look at it with fresh eyes before finally hitting the submit button.