1. Denial
There is no way that they’re that terrible…right? You totally don’t have to start studying a couple weeks before. You have about 30 projects due anyway, so you’ll start studying a few days before and be fine.
2. Worry
You start to hear about finals from your professors and realize that you’re expected to know everything that you have learned from the beginning of the semester. You begin to worry about the fact that you haven’t studied yet.
3. Productivity
You start studying, and you actually get pretty far in your first few hours. You start to feel like you can do this.
4. Exhaustion
You have been studying for about 15 hours straight, you have been up for over 20 hours, and all you want to do is sleep. You end up just taking a quick nap surrounded by all of your study materials before getting back up and going back to studying.
5. Panic
Your exam is in an hour and yet you still feel like you have so much more to learn. You end up calling your mom in tears for a quick pep talk before going back to go over those flash cards one more time.
6. Your First Exam
You go to your first exam and realize that all of your studying did actually help. You get through it, and then give yourself a reward of a 30 minute nap before going back to that classroom you and your friends staked out this morning to study some more.
7. Jealousy
All of your friends start to finish exams and go home, and you’re just sitting there surrounded by books wondering when you learned all of the stuff that is on your exam. People ask you why you are still studying and you just stare at them for a moment before going back to your notes.
8. Elation
You finally finish your last exam and get to go home for break. You get into your house, say hi to your dog (and the rest of the family), and then just go straight to bed for about 20 hours straight.
9. Acceptance
As much as you want to say that you are never going through that again, you know that you will go through finals week again in just a few months, and somehow you accept that. If two horrible weeks a year is the cost of having such a great time at college, well, you guess it is worth it.