At some point or another you may find this post relatable, whether you enjoy writing essays or are completely terrified by the idea of it. All the formative, summative and essay writing workshops bring with them plenty of work, tons of pressure and demand immense determination. However, there is a lot of humor tied along to it as well.

Phase 1 (one month before deadline)

You have a zillion tabs open on your chrome window, you are booking office hours sincerely and then cancelling them heartlessly deceiving your enthusiasm and ambitions.

You go the library, to the new academic building, to the saw swee hock building and discover all the cafes around you. You spend money buying ounces of coffee only to check your Facebook notifications. You buy cheap stationery, thinking this will help you to focus, only to Snapchat the new fancy pens and notebooks.

Once back to your room you open your bag to find the stationery rainbow you have created. Doubtlessly one is amused looking at the situation, and you ask yourself why do you even have pens of all different colors?

Having spent the entire day devoted to analyzing your essay question, you can now rest easy with the idea of a new tomorrow and go off to sleep.

Phase 2 (15 days before deadline)

The booked office hour has finally been attended, you have met your advisor and an action plan is now in the works. If only the plan itself was put to work, but it was carefully constructed, plotted and intended for execution sometime ‘soon’.

Now that the action plan is in the picture, you can peacefully start any new show of your liking. The first season of Making a Murderer has been doing the rounds lately. ‘What? It’s based on a real life story?’ Now ladies and gentlemen, this ten-part documentary is suddenly more important that your degree at LSE.

Phase 3 (7 days before deadline)

The final week commences, you have long chats with your classmates about how difficult the essay question is, what is expected out of you, how lengthy and tedious the readings are and what everyone is doing. While you struggle to even remember the title of your essay, you meet someone supremely efficient and they discuss their dissertation plan with you. The world is spinning and the roof is going to fall off.

Dissertation- the best way to describe a very compelling theory of psychology– that part of your mind that’s currently somewhere in between the conscious and the sub-conscious. No really, you don’t know what to do but you still have to do it.

Phase 4 (one day before deadline)

This is it. You HAVE to write it; you can’t continue reading forever. The background music in the room has now switched to the lecture recordings. The well decorated table is now the biggest mess in the world. Your chair is the temporary cupboard, your bed the dining table. You Skype with your family and friends only to tell them how busy you are. You cannot cook anything and will have to survive on leftovers. Since you have been reading so many papers online, internet becomes a little merciful and decides to send you some food coupons to make you less sad and more fat.

After ordering pizza, the realization hits you, it’s now dark outside and soon you’ll enter that dreadful night that’s going to seem endless.

Phase 5 (night before deadline)

Panic has reached another level altogether and it’s a do or die situation. Though in your head death seems to be more plausible right now. Let’s be slightly realistic, you are an adult now. You can’t get under the blanket and sleep through the situation. Last few hours to change the game and turn the tables around. C’mon, all of us are by now well aware that anything is possible when you are a student at LSE. So what do you do when you encounter another challenge, you say: bring it on!
I am sure, whatever the result it was worth all the pressure, tension, work and readings. These are those dramatic and also hilarious stages we go through in order to write that perfect essay.

We are designed and somewhat conditioned to focus only on the result, the grade, the percentage, the rank. Of course, that’s of superior importance, we are here to excel and reach great heights. However, amidst all this we overlook something that too holds a lot of meaning.

It’s the process of writing an essay. This experience can be equally valuable and satisfying as the results. After all, being a student at LSE is not so easy. Now that the summative essays are around the corner we may be entering these dramatic stages again. It’s natural to feel burdened and stressed with all the work and readings. However, let’s take a minute to stand back and appreciate the task at hand. At the same time to also laugh at all the mindless things we are going to do to achieve excellence.

So, happy reading, happy researching, happy stressing and ultimately happy writing!