1. You Eat Nothing But Junk The Entire Week
Exam week means spending any extra time you have staring at your computer screen in the library. If you have meal plan money, you’re running low, if you have real money, you’re also running low. When you’re in the library for more than 3 hours at a time, cooking real food is difficult. So bring forth the easy and quick Cookout, Taco Bell, Chick Fil A, etc. in place of more healthy options. And we all pray that our clothes for graduation still fit at the end of the week for graduation.
2. Your Caffeine Intake is Dangerously High
When you’re staring at a textbook or computer screen for hours, energy levels magically drop. Five Hour Energy, Monster, Rockstar, Soda and plain old coffee are used to try and stimulate some kind of energy and focus (the Wired Scholar coffee has some kind of crack in it that makes me super jittery after one cup). When you mix any of these options or even have multiple caffeinated beverages, there’s that lovely feeling that your heart might explode.
3. You Don’t Sleep
I’ve been blessed to only pull one all-nighter in my time at App, but some of us aren’t as lucky. Many of us are trucking through papers, project or study guides until the wee hours of the morning before a 9 a.m. exam. College age students should be getting about eight hours of sleep per night, but that just doesn’t happen during exam week. Missing one good night of sleep can mess up your sleep schedule for up to 28 days, which explains a lot.
4. Staring At A Computer Screen For Hours
Studies have shown that we aren’t supposed to stare at a computer screen for hours on end, but professors seem to think it’s a cool thing for us to do. Since most work is submitted online via ASULearn, we’re stuck with the technology that is bad for our eyes. Not only is looking at a screen for hours on end bad for your vision, but you can get things like ulcers on your eyes (YUCKY!).
5. You’re Convinced You’re Going To Fail…Or Die
Two portfolios, a presentation, an exam, a practical… how does one have time to do all of this? In my college career, I cry about three times a semester (usually after not sleeping) in the library about how there’s no way I can get everything done. And I’m not alone. Students working over time without sleep and caffeine is a recipe for wanting to drop out and work as a stripper. Somehow we get things done, but only after a few calls to mom about how we’re never going to amount to anything because a normal human can’t do three presentations and four exams in a week.