The most dreaded time of a student’s life is on the horizon: exam time.

Somehow, someway, studying for exams tends to go very much the same way every single time. Even though you’re sure you learned your lesson from last time, you can’t avoid the 6 stages of studying for your exams…

Stage One: The Optimism

Me? Panicking? No way! Exams are weeks away, if I start studying now I’ll just end up forgetting everything. I have plenty of time! I’m fine!

You feel confident. You’re blissfully unaware of the terrors that are about to unfold. You’re probably making the mistake of over-estimating how much time you actually have. But you do everything you can to tell yourself that you’re fine, you have plenty of time – and push the feeling that you might be in denial right to the back of your mind.

Stage Two: The Procrastination

I should definitely start studying now. But first I need to get something to eat. And I should also probably tidy my desk because who wants to work in a messy environment? I really need to take a shower… then I’ll start. Oooh, I have so many Snapchat stories to catch up on! You know what would be really good right now? A nap.

At this stage, ANYTHING is better than studying. Even cleaning your environment and doing your laundry sounds like much more appealing activities. You can’t quite bring yourself to sit down and open a book.

Stage Three: The Little Rewards

By doing one hour of study, you decide to reward yourself with one episode of your favourite series on Netflix. Little rewards are a great way to motivate yourself to study, right? Even though you know exactly how that’s going to end. You get hooked, watch an entire season, then fall asleep.

Stage Four: The Inevitable Breakdown

This is when you realise how close your exams actually are after pushing it to the back of your mind for weeks and how much you could have done if you weren’t binge-watching Netflix all day – and it hits you like a ton of bricks. Cue tears, regret and the serious contemplation of dropping out and giving up completely. Ordering pizza to make yourself feel better is the only cure.

Stage Five: The All-Nighter

There is no option now but to stay up all night and cram in as much information as you possibly can. You probably get a feeling of delusional confidence at 4 am before falling asleep face-first onto your half-eaten pizza.

Stage Six: The Sweet Relief

Your exams are finally over and as if by some miracle, you managed to ace them all. Pfft, you were right in the beginning, no need to panic. Now time to sleep for a week.

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