'Tis the season to question everything you know and bring out the GPA calculator; the final round of midterms is upon us. As Derek Shepherd would say, "it's a beautiful day to save lives," but we are just trying to remember to sleep and eat, not conduct brain surgery. Seems easy enough right? Wrong.
1. Things will typically start out calm.
This time you are starting in advance. This exam is going to be different, you tell yourself. You have that foolish belief that you know what you are doing and have been paying attention in class the past 5 weeks.
2. The competition begins.
You know this to be true especially if you have friends or roommates in the class. It is never said out loud, but the comparisons in knowledge and study techniques are being made. Never in a malicious way; more of a "oh you made flashcards and read the textbook?" kind of way.
3. The review session that makes you question if you even know what breathing is.
Forget about getting ahead and feeling confident in your previous studying because the review is guaranteed to make you feel 10x worse about your current situation. Including that one student that asks questions every five minutes about concepts you didn't even know existed.
4. You begin to wonder if your brain is even working.
Everything is blank. You feel like if you have to read even one more sentence you are going to self combust. This is the stage of having to reread a sentence 5 times to understand what is being said.
5. When your professor tells you that the exam will indeed be cumulative AND there will be no curve.
*nervously sweats and laughs*
6. The panic phase kicks in.
You feel as if the world is ending and begin to look up inspirational quotes about "an exam not defining you as a human being" and eat a lot of chocolate. And a bonus if it is really bad, your parents may get a phone call of you sobbing about chemistry.
7. Once the panic is released, the acceptance of your fate phase enters the room.
You find yourself so emotionally exhausted at this point that all you can do is walk tall and fake it till you make it. One grade can't ruin you (or at least that will become your mantra for the rest of the week).
8. Exam day dawns on you and you're fully ready for the academic ruin you're about to endure.
And it always seems that the professor is all smiles that day.
9. You walk out of the exam with a weight off of your chest and a motivation to take full advantage of the weekend.
You know what rhymes with stress? Fries and drinks. Not really but that seems to be a nice cushion after a terrible exam.
10. Finally, you get your grade back.
You either did better than you thought or tell yourself there is always next time. Smile to hold back the tears, girl.
So kick your feet up and enjoy the ride.
