Mid-terms, Ryan Giggs, and Regrets
The period of exam studying can be classified into three sections: Finding excuses before sitting down to study, loitering during your study, and worrying about your near future after the study. Here's a brief mid-term and finals study guide, then.
There are several reasons to prevent you from sitting in front of your desk to study for mid-terms or finals. The most famous of those is TV. For instance, don’t worry about your exams on Wednesday and Thursdays, because there are always Champions’ League games at night before them! The funny thing is, the “last 15 minutes” is always an unbearable torture, because the time for self-deceit is ticking down even faster after that, the inevitable end is getting closer. That’s why you pray to God like you’ve never done before for Manchester United to score a late equalizer, so that extra-time can be played. Thank you Giggs!
Then, pre-study excuses come to an end, whether it may be watching TV, taking a shower, or eating your 5th meal: You suddenly realize that you somehow have to sit down to do something. Finally, as you put your “body” firmly into the chair, your “mind” out of service notices the pile of paper that you have to read, just for a change. And that’s exactly when you question the meaning of life. “Why do you exist in the first place?” However, a better suggestion to pass time with would be calling someone from your class to hear that he hasn’t started studying yet, either, which would suddenly cheer you up: At least you’re not alone against your cruel enemy.
The near future I've mentioned above refers to the time between going to bed -if at all- after studying, to the beginning of the exam the next day. In this period of your life, you feel suffocated in worries and regrets: Why didn't you start studying earlier, the topics were not that difficult. If you’re lucky, the mid-term or final was impossible anyway, so you feel satisfied you “couldn’t” study.
To tell the truth, that is as lucky as you can get. Anyway at the end of the day you may say, “what kind of a study guide is this?” Well, I’m telling you the things you shouldn’t do. What you should do is clear anyway, isn’t it?

Efe Peker (POLS/III)