Testing. It's enough to drive most students into a mess of emotions. Even the best of students, I've found, have a hard time avoiding the roller coaster ride that comes with preparing for a particularly hard test, especially when it's at the last minute.

Thanks to a combination of a crammed schedule and poor time management skills, I always find myself inevitably putting off studying until the last minute. Then I enter what I call the Five Stages of Testing Grief. Let me walk you through my pain.

1) Denial

At first, I try to downplay this test to myself, because I'm unable to deal with the fact that I've waited so late to start studying.

"This test isn't going to be that hard!"

"Two days isn't that far off...I have all of tomorrow to study."

"It's no big deal that I stayed up until four watching How to Get Away With Murder. If I wake up at 8 am, I'll have plenty of time to study."

I can do this for days-weeks, even. But soon, the deadline has crept so close that I can't avoid denying it any longer. Then I begin to transition from Stage 1 to Stage 2:

2) Anger

After I eventually coax myself to pick up my review sheet, I realize that I'm completely out of my element. The confusion springs into another emotion-anger. But instead of directing it at myself like I probably should, I direct it at my professor and my classmates and anyone I perceive as a "perpetrator" at the time.

"Why didn't our professor tell us about this test sooner?"

"Why did she have to schedule this test during the same week as all the other tests? It's like they want us to be stressed!"

"Why did so many of my classmates ask so many questions? We could have had extra time to work on the review with our professor, but no, people had to actually be engaged in the class."

Then I get angry at The Man-

"Testing is such a ridiculous way to measure our knowledge. Why don't we do project-based learning instead?"

"This education system is going downhill!"

After I realize that getting angry about education reform won't do anything about my grades, I switch over to the next stage:

3. Bargaining

Bargaining is something I often do when it comes to studying, whether I have a test coming up or not. But when I have a test within the next 48 hours, my bargaining skills go into overdrive. I can convince myself that what I'm doing is productive, even if it's not:

"If I spend another five minutes of Facebook, then I'll spend the next hour studying."

"It's okay if I FaceTime my best friend if I'm asking her for help on my review sheet."

Of course, on the day of, I switch from procrastination to sheer panic.

"If I skip class today I'll never skip class again."

Of course, I never hold up my end of the bargain, so I waste time until every bit of light is sucked up into the darkness. Then I realize how late it is and how little time I have left to prepare. That's when I really start to freak.

4. Depression

As I try to skim my notes, I feel the heavy sense of hopelessness sinking over me. I begin thinking dark thoughts:

"I'm never going to pass this test!"

"I'm going to flunk this class and then have to drop out of college!"

"If I drop out of college, I'm going to have to live in a cardboard box, or worse-move back in with my parents."

These doom-and-gloom thoughts continue until something happens. Maybe I see that I'm not the only one scared for the test, or read a news story about something horrible. Either way, I stop worrying about how awful the test is going to be and put things into perspective.

5) Acceptance

Somewhere between getting to school and sitting down with the test, pencil in hand, I start to accept that how I do on this test won't signal the end of the world, as long as I make some changes:

"I'm probably not going to pass this test, but if I pass the next test my grade will be fine."

"I should probably start studying earlier next time."

"This test isn't so bad. I'll probably do fine."

I leave the test feeling a sense of renewed optimism, and come to class the next day ready to stop the cycle and start studying properly again.

Then the professor tells us when the next test will be, and the cycle starts again.