Exam weeks are a time of repeated panic, sleepless nights, and endless stu(dying) for most students. By far, the second worse exam week of the semester is the very first one (only overshadowed by finals). Welcome to the stages of exam week, aka levels of college Hell!
1) The Initial “I got this!” phase:
In this phase, you haven’t really started studying for your upcoming exams yet, but you feel like you understood what was going on in lecture. You usually feel that all you really need is a light review of the things that happened at the beginning of the semester because it’s probably been a month already.
2) The Initial “WHAT IS THIS?” phase:
So you finally cracked open the books and notes and have started to review, and you suddenly realized that you have no idea what any of the material is. The panic slowly creeps in, and you basically decide that you need a gallon of coffee to stay up and learn everything. Hopefully, this stage takes place a couple of days before the exam.
3) The “I’m so done!” phase:
After hours of studying, you reach that point where you cannot read another word, memorize another formula, or perform another analysis. It’s time to binge Netflix and junk food for a couple of hours.
4) The “I shouldn’t’ve done that.” phase:
This is the first part of your studying when you get back from your long “study break” and diligently work because you feel guilty about your break. This is probably one of the most productive times in your study routine because you just feel sucky for letting Netflix take you away. Of course, the productivity can’t last forever…
5) The “Can I really do this?” phase:
You have been studying for hours and hours and you still don’t feel like you know things. You begin to question if you can actually pass this exam. All you want is a “C” and a good night of sleep. Usually, this is where you find a friend to restore faith in yourself (or complain with you!).
6) The secondary “I got this!” phase:
This phase follows your small mental breakdown, and will usually last until the exam (or these 2 stages will go on repeat). You feel pretty good about studying because you realize that you actually know parts of the material. You hopefully feel confident walking into the exam.
From this point, you could take one of 2 paths:
7a) The secondary “WHAT IS THIS?” phase:
You turn over your exam and realize that you studied the wrong material. You dig through it look for questions you do know, and try to scrape for points on the ones you don’t.
Or....
7b) The “THIS IS AWESOME!” phase
You have somehow managed to study the right material. Yeah, there are some things you don’t know, but they are outweighed by the things you do know. You KILLED the exam! Congrats!
8) The “I’M FINALLY FREE!” phase
No matter how your exams went, after they are all over, you are FINALLY FREE!!! It’s time to celebrate
Well, celebrate till next exam week anyway.
