In high school, I would have slapped myself if I received below an 80 on a test, a quiz, an essay, or an assignment. Now, as a college student, I throw parties if I receive a 65 on my exam (because that is just passing). But there are a handful of times where my grades fall below that beautiful number and a handful of times where I had to experience the five stages of grief after receiving a failing grade:

1. Denial

When you receive your test back or check your grade online and see that big, giant, F, there are a bunch of emotions and thoughts running through your head. A majority of those thoughts are: “There must be a mistake!”, “She definitely put the wrong grade in”, “There’s no way I did that bad!”

2. Anger

And then you get angry. You get mad that your professor made the exam so difficult. You get mad that you received such a bad grade and that this just adds more stress to your study schedule and habits (or lack thereof). Or you get heated at yourself that you didn’t study enough, or you studied the wrong points, or because you didn’t get enough sleep that night.

3. Bargaining

Next, you come up with a new game plan. Tomorrow you’ll go talk to your professor during their office hours. You’ll talk to them right after class. You’ll start studying for the next exam today. You will do everything in your power to make up for this bad grade.

4. Depression

Now comes the heavy chest, the burning eyes, and the hopelessness. Here comes the sad feeling you get when you see that failing grade one more time and all you want to do is make a playlist of sad songs and lay down on the floor while you listen to these sad songs and as you eat some chocolate cake. I have come to find out that this is the longest stage. You could be laying around in misery for a minimum of one hour to a maximum of six hours.

5. Acceptance

Finally, you sleep off the depression stage or you nap it away. Once you wake up, you recognize that this is the grade you got. There is no going back—or maybe there is, you just have to talk to your professor. But this is the stage where your head is more clear, and you don’t feel as desperate as you did before. This is the stage where everything will start to get better.