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The 5 Stages Of Grief Before An Exam

College: The place where you learn to put the "pro" in procrastination.

Jordan Smith
Nov 09, 2016
Writer Development Interest Group
102
The 5 Stages Of Grief Before An Exam
FanPop

Let's get real, college is a dangerous game of waiting until the last possible second to write a paper or study for an exam. Most of the time we win by the grace of God and sometimes... we lose. Some weeks there are no upcoming assignments. Some weeks there are 3 papers, 3 exams, and 2 online quizzes due. It seems before our most important exams is when we are more apt to test our procrastination skills. Let's explore this "hypothetical" scenario that has "never happened to us."

Stage 1: Denial

It's Saturday night, and there's a huge exam on Tuesday. That's 3 days, including the day of the exam, to study. That's plenty of time to prepare, right? You got this. Time to party.


Stage 2: Anger

So it's now Sunday morning (or let's get real probably closer to 11am) and you wake up. You're either very, very hungover or very, very unmotivated, and the only thing on your mind is a greasy fast food breakfast. Why does there have to be a huge exam on Tuesday, and why do you have to spend time studying for it? Why God?!


Stage 3: Bargaining

Okay, so at this point it is very late Sunday possibly early Monday, and you realize you have gotten nothing done. You praised yourself on getting some notes out but then Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat took over. It's panic mode. How will you learn 6 chapters in one day?! You're almost running out of hope, and you decide to calculate the lowest grade you can receive and still get an A. Or a B. Or possibly even just to pass the class. You spend time meticulously calculating every scenario instead of just STUDYING FOR THE EXAM.


Stage 4: Depression

Monday evening has finally creeped up, and you are freakinggg out. You think there's no way in hell you are going to pass this. Which, to you, automatically means you may fail the class. You've been studying for hours, and your're not sure that you even understand the material. Depression sinks in hard. It's going to be a long night.


Stage 5: Acceptance

It's the morning of the exam. You walk to class and prepare to take the exam. You stayed up way later than you'd like to admit. You start to peak at your notes before the exam, but you realize your knowledge is as good as it's going to get. Minutes later you begin the exam and... you know more than you thought you would. Thank God. You realize that you may not get an A, but you may not fail after all.

Remember. This has never happened to us because we are "exemplary students", right?


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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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