The first month of school is over and now October is here, bringing with it the lovely fall weather. But many of us don’t have time to stop and admire the changing color of the leaves because the month of October also has an unwelcome companion: midterm exams. And for some of us freshman, nothing is more terrifying than that first college exam. Though we all have different methods of coping with the unpleasant event, the emotional process I went through on my first midterm exam is something I think all my fellow first year badgers can relate to.
Pre Game Warm-Up: I started off with a carefully planned out schedule of studying. But even after hours of reviewing and taking practice tests, the night before the exam arrives and I feel as if I am no more prepared than if I started taking the class a week ago. I make the difficult but necessary decision to miss watching that night’s episode of “How I Met Your Mother” and bury myself in my notes. Five cups of tea later (which did not “energize the body and focus the mind” as the box advertised it would), my efforts are drained and I decide the best course of action is just to go to sleep for the next morning’s battle.
Game Time: After a fulfilling breakfast of Kellogg’s Mini Wheats (let’s be honest, who doesn’t want little wheat people on their shoulders cheering them on), I head off to take my exam first thing that morning. As I open the test, the emotions I experienced can only be described in comparison to the five stages of grief. First came the denial. No, these questions can’t really be that unbelievably hard, I must have misread them. Then the anger set in. Clearly, my professor and TA’s hate students and want to see them fail. I don’t even know why I took this class anyways. After calming down, I started to bargain with the midterm gods. Midterm gods, can you hear me? It’s me, Livi. If you could please ease my pain and make the rest of the questions easy, I promise I’ll study much more for the next exam. Don’t laugh, I’m serious. When bargaining proved ineffective, I fell into a state of depression, where all hope is lost and failure appears imminent. And then, upon completion of the exam and taking a last glance before I turn my answers in, I reach the stage of acceptance. I have done all that I can do, and hopefully that is enough to earn me a grade that won’t bring humiliation to my family name.
Post-Game Recovery: Walking out of the exam room, I am left with the feeling akin to coming out of a wisdom teeth surgery: numb, dazed, and in dire need of a nap. But as luck would have it, I have two more classes to get through before I am united with the welcoming embrace of my bed. But though I am exhausted and feel like the insides of my brain have been reduced to the consistency of oatmeal, a burden has been lifted from my shoulders and I walk onwards with Katy Perry’s “Roar” blaring through my headphones.
Though the struggle was real, I have survived my first exam and am ready to face the many, many more that will follow. The season of midterms is upon us, and I wish all my fellow badger ladies and campus cuties the best of luck! Study on, Badgers!