It's the week that all college students dread, trumped only by finals. Midterms seem to sneak up on you, come way too early, and leave you feeling stressed and unprepared. They count for a big portion of your grade, which is super panicking when you realize that you haven't even been in school for two months yet, so what could you possibly have learned?
I'm lucky enough to say I was a survivor, but that didn't come without struggle. So without further ado, today I'm going to look back on exactly how I felt last week by describing the many phases of midterms.
Phase 1. "The test is when?" Nothing's as sobering as sitting in class doodling in your planner and then finding out that you have a test on everything you've learned in a class...a week from today. Surely this wasn't on the syllabus, right? ...Damn. Okay, it was on the syllabus.
Phase 2. "Okay, I'm not going to panic. A week is plenty of time." The common thing we all say to ourselves, which would make sense if we actually followed that plan. A week to re-teach yourself everything you've learned is a stretch to start with -- and that's not factoring in any social/eating/sleeping/showering time.
Phase 3. "I still have six more days to study. I can take a night off tonight to watch Netflix." Repeat this process when you have five, four, three, and even two more nights to study. Before you know it, it'll be the night before the test.
Phase 4. "Okay, the test is getting super close and I haven't picked up a book yet. Maybe I should start studying a little bit." The panic is starting to creep in. Your notes don't seem to make any sense, and it's too close to the test date for you to ask your professor for clarification without them finding out just how long you're procrastinated studying.
Phase 5. "The test is getting a lot close now. A late-night cram session definitely sounds like a good idea." This is the worst idea in the history of the planet, but also the idea adopted by college students worldwide. The later into the night it gets, we all seem to be under the impression that we'll be able to retain more information, even though it's pretty much the opposite.
Phase 6. "I'm so exhausted I could barely keep my eyes open, and the test is in two days -- maybe coffee will help." Spoiler alert: Coffee is a minor fix, but it won't help anything in the long run. The post-caffeine crash is not worth it.
Phase 7. "I've been studying for a whole two hours. I definitely deserve a snack and Netflix break." A "break" will turn into four hours, which will turn into eight, which will turn into the next morning...and before you know it, it's the next day and you've lost another day of studying.
Phase 8. "Sorry, no time to meet you for dinner tonight, because it's the night before my midterm and I haven't done nearly as much studying as I planned to do, and I hate myself." This one doesn't really need an explanation. But let me just say, having to skip any sort of social time to lock yourself in your room with your books doesn't feel all that great.
Phase 9. "Okay. It's midterm day. I'm just going to walk into class and rock this." At this point, you either know the material or you don't. There's not much you can do about it now.
Phase 10. "Okay, I just got handed my test, and I most certainly am not going to rock this." That sinking feeling is the worst, but there's nothing else you can do except power through.
Phase 11. "Well, that was that -- nothing I could do about it anymore, so I might as well reward myself with some Netflix. Have you noticed that pretty much every part of this process involves Netflix? It's a college student addiction, I tell you.
