As the year begins anew, Orion dominates the January sky. At one side of his head is the constellation Gemini, with its brightest stars Castor and Pollux. On the other, is Taurus, with Aldebaran shining in the Bull’s eye.

It’s Capricorn (Dec 22nd – Jan 20th) and Aquarius (Jan 21st – Feb 18th) season! Don’t forget to wish your Capricorn and Aquarius friends a happy birthday.

But while you may still be sweating the mid-winter blues, many of you are still waking up in literal cold sweats after dreams of math exams relay in our heads. Well, how did you do? Did you diligently and responsibly set aside study hours, while getting healthy amounts of sleep and get all your homework done on the side? Did you finish your study guide? Finish at least half? Did your teacher even give you a study guide?

Astrologically, here’s how you probably endured exam season…

Aries: Procrastination isn’t a habit you’re entirely unfamiliar with. Whether it’s a result of successfully fulfilling work demands, academic demands, or plain laziness, you may not crack open the books until the very eve of your test. Behind schedule or not, your determination to get at least something memorized will not falter.

Taurus: Walking into class on exam day unprepared is not a pleasant experience for anyone, but for Taurus, that lack of assurance hits hard. A vague, confusing study guide is even worse. At the end of the day, the high stakes and intense pressure of exam taking may crumble your confidence when the exam is finally in front of you. Luckily, your excellent logic and common sense should keep that pencil steady. Positive self talk is always key!

Gemini: When it comes to studying, it’s difficult to know just where to start. After finding a comfy spot to sit, acquiring a full cup of coffee (or whatever your preferred beverage may be) it’s likely you glance at your pile of study guides and just say “uh”. You attempt to complete, or at least read all of them, and know a little bit of everything. With all this information bouncing around in your mind, staying on track while test taking may prove difficult. One question at a time…Next time skip a few if you have to!

Cancer: Whether you studied for hours or not, you read every other question with a buzz of “crap, I’m gonna fail” in the back of your head. Deep breaths to subdue your internal flood of worry may come about periodically throughout that long, grueling 90 minutes. Even with steel memory and keen logic on your side, you may walk out of the classroom in a cruel guessing game as to what your score could be. Don’t let that kind of anxiety get the best of you!

Leo: With an itch to prove your intelligence (to yourself or anyone else), an enlightening study session in the form of reading notes for a few hours, or flipping through note cards prior to the test helps boost and solidify your confidence. There’s not much sense in going back and checking every single one of your answers…If your gut says it’s right, what else could it be? Any pal struggling with organizing and reviewing what’s on the test often ends up seeking you out, and you’ll offer up all the help and encouragement it takes. Just don’t forget to help yourself in the process.

Virgo: Finding it difficult to sit still during your test, you may end up being that one kid who bugs the teacher to “go use the restroom.”. After taking a few minutes to stretch your legs and read what you scribbled on your forearm (if you did), once you buckle down to take the test, a critical attention to detail might come and lock you to one, singular question for a prolonged amount of time. After reading the problem five times, you decide D is definitely not the right answer. A and B are plausible, and C is just trying to trick you. Always remember: timing is an element here, too. Pace yourself!

Libra: Whether you studied or not, the minutes ticking by during exam time may tick louder to you. No matter how long you spend trying to pick apart each question for those enlightening details, there’s always something more interesting stewing in the back of your mind to dream about. Suddenly, your teacher calls the 15 minute mark, and answering ACCBD is more tempting than ever. But, it’s important to have faith in your exceptional ability to creatively solve any problem, even exam problems.

Scorpio: Despite having every intention to complete your work, you may have found yourself in an unfortunate web of studying all the wrong material. Once your exam is finally on your desk, the struggle to arrange the puzzle pieces of information floating around in your head can be painfully time consuming. But once you patiently power through those first few questions and get on a roll, there’s no holding you back! Especially, with clever fact finding as your specialty. Just don’t get too wrapped up on those critical thinking questions.

Sagittarius: Sitting in one place for ninety minutes isn’t exactly a coveted way to spend a morning for anyone (whether you got up early and made a “brain food” breakfast or not), but for you, the thirty-minute mark hits and you can practically feel yourself sinking into the desk chair. Looking through the window at the passing cars, you can’t get your mind off of that soon to be end-of-semester break. But here you are, tormented by some stupid question your teacher didn’t even teach you. Still, whether it’s out of your challenge-loving gusto, or simple spite, that exam is yours for the conquering. Put your will to it, and you’ve got this.

Capricorn: You should really give your vast intellect a little more credit. You’re much smarter than you realize. A lack of self confidence can lead to procrastination in any activity, particularly studying. Despite this, the desire to impress yourself or others exists brightly within you and can serve as a solid motivation to go for the A on that test! If you just take an hour or two to grind through a few textbook chapters and study guides, you’ll surely exceed your own expectations. Even if the feat seems time consuming, what you learned will be thoroughly remembered.

Aquarius: Trials and tribulations may be necessary to find a study method that’s just right for you. Your natural, strong sense of individuality may cause difficulty in jiving with the typical study routes others often take. While this is frustrating enough, you may finally find a comfortable study habit, only to spontaneously feel as if a more traditional approach holds superior benefit to you. But once exam day finally arrives, don’t doubt your originality and brilliance. Even if you come up with something a little avant garde for those free response questions, write it down!

Pisces: Rather than finishing all your assignments for yourself, you may end up helping all your friends with their own work first. Once you’ve fulfilled your friendly duty, your performance on the test could end up as an equal mixture (keeping in academic spirit: a heterogeneous mixture) of learned facts and some spattering of embellished facts. But with such a spontaneous and natural creativity, you can fully flesh out any small idea.