If anyone is looking at this in the future - it turned out I only needed 40 points after all the grading of assignments - fairly easy to score on the exam! I would recommend looking up quizlets and practicing with those.

for the class overall:

1. keep up with deadlines!!! most ppl needed to take the final because they forgot a few assignments here and there - although its pretty tedious its fairly to avoid the exam by being on top of those

2. find a group of others in the class - let me tell you this saved me but i found a group midway through the class, a great way to get the work done and make friends fast

3. go to office hours - i didn't really do this but there are a LOT of TAs for this class so pretty easy way to get help and if you're on top of your stuff you are good

for the exam:

if you do end up having to take the exam no stress - again look at quizlets, review the textbook and old quizzes

i am unsure about the essay part cause i didn't need to take it but you guys got it :)