Finals season has descended upon campus. Classes are over, but the job is a long way from being done. Group projects, papers, and exams loom over your head as reading days ensue, and the only thing getting you through finals is the thought of going home. There is little to help get you through this but your own power and determination (and the Hamilton Mixtape, what?). So I thought – what better way to represent by the collective finals struggle with a musical about collective struggle to start our country/best musical ever?
1. Making an incredibly detailed study schedule for the next few days
Almost down to the minute, this plan will surely help you succeed.
2. Procrastinating – because you have all the time in the world, right?
Netflix is a death trap – you tell yourself – yet you still sit and watch five episodes of The Office. It’s been a tough past two weeks, it’s a well-deserved and much-needed break. The work you should do can wait.
3. Finally, almost miraculously, you feel some motivation to get some work done
Your desk is prepped and ready for the intense study session that’s about to happen. A few hours later, papers are strewn about and are no longer organized, but that doesn’t matter because you’re really looking for a mind at work.
4. Feeling like you’ve done a lot, but looking at your to do list and realizing you have so much left to do
Your to-do list seems never ending – group project meetings, papers that are still an empty Word document, notes that have gone unturned. You continue because you have to, knowing that you have a long journey ahead.
5. Finally starting a paper that’s due the next day
The empty Word document is now littered with your scattered thoughts, which are not connected in any way at all. You type and type and type the day away, trying to provide evidence for certain points, but you really know you’re reaching for the stars here.
6. It’s the day before your first final
Finals are looming even closer and you haven’t seen the sun in over 24 hours. Your third cup of coffee sits next to you as you frantically read over every line, making sure you remember the tiniest of details that are bound to pop up on the final exam.
7. Learning all these concepts – knowing you’re now an expert in everything and anything in that field
Of course, now after the ten hours of studying, you could spout out any fact or detail about the matter. I mean, you could even teach a class in it!
8. Finding that you don’t have notes to study from because you skipped class that day
Alas, everything cannot be this simple – you knew this time would come. You reach the point in the notes where there is missing information, and it dawns on you. It was a day where that particular class was unattended. Now, it’s time to find the information and learn it, cursing your past self for not attending that class.
9. Point of frustration where you stare and stare at a concept and it’s just not clicking
You have not yet reached breaking point, but you’re almost there. What lay in front of you does not only seem confusing – it seems like a foreign language you can barely read. You wonder, “How am I supposed to know how to do this when I can’t understand this basic concept?”
10. You get to the point where you see your entire career flash in front of your eyes, and it’s not pretty
It seems like the entire world is ending, like there is no way you are going to do what you need to. There are too many papers, projects, concepts to look over – it’s just too much. Your future seems to be set aflame, but we all know it’s not really, but it seems like it at the time.
11. But listening to your GPA say that history has its eyes on you
As you’ve heard many a student say: Pain is temporary, but glory and GPA are forever.
12. Walking into the exam all pumped up
Optimism is key in this situation – as you know 99% of the people in the exam room feel an impending sense of dread. You go into the final with a positive energy, knowing you’re going to channel that into your exam.
13. Looking at these exam questions, knowing all the points your professor is going to take off
Did we ever learn this? Is this a trick question? HOW am I supposed to know that?
14. Someone walking past you – finishing the exam early because they clearly knew the material like an expert
You’re barely halfway through your exam, and someone has the nerve to get up and walk past you with a perfectly filled out exam. You ignore them, and continue on the questions, now knowing that you have to write like you’re running out of time.
15. No better feeling than walking out of the exam with your fellow survivors – knowing you’ve made it through another finals week
You’ve done it! You’ve made it through the battles, and come out on the other side feeling a sense of pure relief, now that you’ve made it through this time. You head back to your dorm and see the people still slaving away over notes. And to all your friends who haven’t finished yet, you wish them luck and you’ll see them on the other side of the war.
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