As college students, we all go through stressful times throughout the semester. Some of us more than others, but we all do. For the typical, non- braniac college student I will be detailing the phases of stress that we go through all the time, or at least the ones I have gone through.
1. Partying stress
This happens at the beginning of the semester when the workload is light and exams are far away. The only thing you're stressing about in this 3-4 week period is which fraternities or upperclassmen are throwing the most lit party you can go to and hopefully being able to drag your shambling body back to your room in one piece when it's over.
2. 2 weeks away from midterm stress
At this point, the workload has normalized and you're coming up on the first round of exams. This is when you start using your planner (hopefully) and try to be a productive member of society. Your caffeine intake has somewhat elevated and you find yourself sleeping slightly later than normal. Not too much, but slightly. You still have hope for the future because you have some time left to do your assignments and study.
3. 1 week away from midterm stress
Your hope for the future is fading rapidly. Caffeine levels are rising at alarming rates and you're staying up 3+ hours later than you normally do. Also, you're hoping to whatever you believe in that your professors will be humane and not give you any assignments until next week so you can focus on that exam. You double check every syllabus for your classes and you're in luck. No real assignments. Just more midterms that are alarmingly close to or are on the same day as the exam you're currently freaking out about. Now you're freaking out even more.
4. 3 days away from midterm(s) stress
All you drink is coffee, energy drinks and whatever else is caffeinated that can keep you conscious. Sleep has officially lost all meaning to you. It actually sounds like a concept beyond your comprehension. You're developing bags and dark circles under your eyes. You're studying every thing that you can that you think will be on the exam. You also start cramming for other midterms that might be happening that day or a few days later.
5. Exam day stress
You've studied as much as you can. You have more caffeine than blood in your body. It's time to take the exam. One of two things happen: 1. what you studied is on the exam and you rock it like a boss. 2. Absolutely nothing that you studied is on the exam; or what you studied is on the exam, but it's said in a manner so foreign to you that it makes absolutely no sense. You either walk out in the first 30 minutes with confidence or in 2 hours feeling absolutely worthless.
6. Aftermath
If you passed, good for you. You're the happiest person in the world. However, for those who didn't, they are emotionally shattered. But they figure it's just the first exam. I have plenty of time to make it up. But your luck may be so bad that the same just keeps happening again and again no matter how hard you study, how many counselors you have, the amount of office hours you've gone to. It just won't stick. The problem? You need it for your major or track. So you can't not take the class. This is when stress hits you so hard you're either crying every other day or you're just numb to everything.
This all sounds ridiculous, but it isn't. College students, including myself, go through this every semester. We don't do it to ourselves. Rather college does it to us. We're not making excuses for ourselves. It's just that hard. It's an emotional roller-coaster that seems to be going down more than up. Some people are so stressed out that they commit suicide. This isn't a joke. Expecting children who, by some magical number, transform into adults in the blink of an eye and being put in this emotional boot camp is not exactly going to have positive results on our mental being.
