We all know that college is busy and stressful on a daily basis. From time to time, however, we encounter the phenomenon known as “Hell Week,” where everything and anything seems to fall all from Monday through Friday. In honor of many of my friends passing through their own hell weeks and my own hell week coming up soon, I’ve documented below the generalized 5 stages of hell week.

1. The Realization

The first stage is a tricky one, since it actually starts the Friday before. It usually takes until midnight on Friday for denial to exit and realization to kick in. Yes, the week is happening.

2. The Preparation

Once you have accepted the unavoidable, everything is just numbers. Saturday and Sunday are two days, 48 hours, 2880 minutes, or 172,800 precious seconds you receive to prepare for the upcoming week. Nothing else matters but getting ready for tests (did all the teachers collude for 2 major tests to collide on the same day?), getting started on work due later on (even though the rubric still isn’t posted) while juggling the work for extracurricular activities (because leadership positions are just as important as the grades).

3. The Wrench

The week is slowly beginning and you’re ready to face it all. You’ve spent sufficient amount of time and money (on coffee and random food) to get to this position, there is no way you are letting it go to waste. It is at this time that you feel as if the Universe has a sadistic sense of humor because in comes the wrench. Sometimes it comes in the form of a surprise quiz or assignment, but I’ve noticed that it often comes in the form of illness. Because once one person on campus gets sick, everyone gets sick and it just happens to be during their hell week.

4. The (almost) Last Breath

It’s Thursday, and yes, the week is almost over, but at this point you cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel. Because due to some cruel fate, there is still something due on the glorious day of Friday and you are pretty sure you’re not going to make it, since the last time you checked, you were reading the textbook with your eyes closed.

5. The Sigh of Victory

It’s all done and time to breathe a sigh of relief and victory. Pat yourself on the back because hey, you made it through THE hell week. It’s over and you are all set to just relax for a few days. You open your planner only to realize that there is another hell week coming up in about 3 weeks but oh well, there’s no point worrying about it now.