Whether you are a first-year international student or first-semester senior, there is no way to avoid the arguably worst part of college: Finals Week.
ONE: You go home or to a roommate's house for Thanksgiving break and spend the whole break binge-watching Netflix and stuffing your face. Then it hits you on while you're sitting in traffic on your way back to campus that finals are two weeks away and you haven't prepared a single study guide or paper. You slowly begin to panic, but immediately just go into denial mode.
TWO: As you enter the denial stage you obviously continue to procrastinate by making your holiday wishlist and watching every single movie on Freeform's [previously ABC Family] 2016 '25 Days of Christmas' movie marathon.
THREE: Once you are movie-d out, professors are most likely starting to hand out reviews and requirements for final papers and exams. Now you are in full-blown panic mode. Asking yourself why you didn't start studying earlier, why you skipped so many classes and what do these prompts and questions even mean.
FOUR: So, based on the reality that you have three tests and four papers due in the next week you decide to buckle down and study.
FIVE: For the first few assignments, you are on a roll. Crossing off things from your to-do lists like it's your job. You are so proud that you are actually being productive that you decide to treat yourself and take a break. That break turns into a day binge of a whole season of Parks and Rec.
SIX: With distractions around every corner, you decide to go to the library. You come to find that your favorite work space has been taken over by someone who has never stepped foot in the library all semester. Annoyed, but determined you find a spot and start cranking out those papers and studying your notes. Slowly becoming that excellent student you once were in high school.
SEVEN: Then you emerge from the dungeon, I mean library, to grab a quick bite and another coffee. Feeling more confident with your progress, you map out how late you will have to stay up to finish the last of it.
EIGHT: At this point, you realize there are not enough hours in the day. You haven't left the library in hours, can't remember the last time you showered and don't know what anything but coffee tastes like. But you power through and miraculously submit your papers on time and are confident enough you can at least pass the tests with the knowledge you crammed.
NINE: The day is finally here. The first exam day. You walk into the room (hopefully the right one because schools seem to always make it difficult to find exam rooms), find a seat, hope your brain doesn't fail you and take the exam, hand in the paper or contribute to the discussion. Repeat these steps until your last exam period.
TEN: Then the celebration begins because you are finally done and get to go home and be a potato on your couch for a few weeks. Until you realize that you survived finals week, but another one will be there before you know it.
Share your Finals Week experience with us in the Comments, and post on our Facebook page, thanks!
Here are the top 10 stages of Finals Week from a Finals Week veteran to a freshman like you:
ONE: You go home or to a roommate's house for Thanksgiving break and spend the whole break binge-watching Netflix and stuffing your face. Then it hits you on while you're sitting in traffic on your way back to campus that finals are two weeks away and you haven't prepared a single study guide or paper. You slowly begin to panic, but immediately just go into denial mode.
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TWO: As you enter the denial stage you obviously continue to procrastinate by making your holiday wishlist and watching every single movie on Freeform's [previously ABC Family] 2016 '25 Days of Christmas' movie marathon.
tumblr_muwetkqb4g1re7silo1_400
THREE: Once you are movie-d out, professors are most likely starting to hand out reviews and requirements for final papers and exams. Now you are in full-blown panic mode. Asking yourself why you didn't start studying earlier, why you skipped so many classes and what do these prompts and questions even mean.
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FOUR: So, based on the reality that you have three tests and four papers due in the next week you decide to buckle down and study.
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FIVE: For the first few assignments, you are on a roll. Crossing off things from your to-do lists like it's your job. You are so proud that you are actually being productive that you decide to treat yourself and take a break. That break turns into a day binge of a whole season of Parks and Rec.
200-3
SIX: With distractions around every corner, you decide to go to the library. You come to find that your favorite work space has been taken over by someone who has never stepped foot in the library all semester. Annoyed, but determined you find a spot and start cranking out those papers and studying your notes. Slowly becoming that excellent student you once were in high school.
tumblr_mzgtr8ipqw1qh6uyzo1_500
SEVEN: Then you emerge from the dungeon, I mean library, to grab a quick bite and another coffee. Feeling more confident with your progress, you map out how late you will have to stay up to finish the last of it.
tumblr_o42rp0el5f1sijyd6o1_500
EIGHT: At this point, you realize there are not enough hours in the day. You haven't left the library in hours, can't remember the last time you showered and don't know what anything but coffee tastes like. But you power through and miraculously submit your papers on time and are confident enough you can at least pass the tests with the knowledge you crammed.
tumblr_n33tasvcmc1twg5qwo1_500
NINE: The day is finally here. The first exam day. You walk into the room (hopefully the right one because schools seem to always make it difficult to find exam rooms), find a seat, hope your brain doesn't fail you and take the exam, hand in the paper or contribute to the discussion. Repeat these steps until your last exam period.
200-4
TEN: Then the celebration begins because you are finally done and get to go home and be a potato on your couch for a few weeks. Until you realize that you survived finals week, but another one will be there before you know it.
tumblr_n63wucsaiy1rrx588o1_250
Share your Finals Week experience with us in the Comments, and post on our Facebook page, thanks!