Whether you’re a straight-A student or the kind who waits ‘til week seven to start watching lectures, the exam period is always an emotional time. The books, the cramming, the feeling that this time you really should try flash cards – it’s all a bit of a rollercoaster.

Just know that you’re not alone. Others have felt the way you have, and some of them were kind enough to put their feelings into song.

Here are the most common emotional reactions to the advent of peak exam season, with songs that do them justice.

#1 Denial

You’re fine. Exams are “soon”? They always say that. Remember that speech your lecturer gave back in July about how it’s never too early to prepare? It’s just more of the same hyperbole. Besides, you’re awesome at cramming, like that time in year eight when you bluffed your way through that 400-word essay.

This is totally the same. There’s no reason to panic.

#2 Panic

When it finally hits that exams really are just around the corner and you realise that the year eight essay was only 200 words, you may freak out a little.

#3 Bargaining

Maybe you can put it off? Maybe you could message your tutors? Tell them you’ve caught a tropical disease. Or that you went to a nursing home and contracted the first known case of contagious arthritis. Anything!

#4 Regret

Once it sinks in that you really will have to sit in that exam room on the specified date, some of your past decisions seem suddenly not so smart, and the self-questioning begins.

“Why didn’t I study? Why did I spend all that time watching TV? What’s so intriguing about Sophie Monk’s search for a life-partner anyway? My interest in that show was supposed to be ironic!”

You might be angry at yourself, but it’s okay. Rich Hawley gets you.

#5 Acceptance 

Of course, blaming yourself won’t help. It’s time to accept reality and hit the books. Like a down-but-not-out Frank Underwood, you finally see what needs to be done.

#6 Rallying

You’ve accepted your fate. Now it’s time to study.

And not the week three, “s’pose I better” kind of studying, with your mind on your dinner and Netflix on in the background. This is hardcore, nose-to-paper, fight-movie-training-montage shit. And for that, you need some classic training-montage tunes.

#7 Love (For Your Mate Who Lets You Borrow Their Notes)

There’s nothing like that magical moment when you realise that your own cavalier attitude to note-taking hasn’t doomed you to failure, thanks to the generosity of your more attentive classmates.

I could wax lyrical about it, but I think I’ll leave that to the incomparable Whitney Houston.

#8 Anger 

So, you’ve gathered your strength, ransacked the textbooks, and managed to get yourself to the exam on time. Unfortunately, there are more than just the exam questions to test your brain – there are tiny noises, which become deafening about 10 minutes in.

Between the scratching of many pencils, the examiners marching around like they’re on a parade ground, and the endless sniffing of your fellow students (is Kleenex on strike or something?) your concentration frays like old socks, and it takes all your willpower not to end up in a viral video entitled “Aussie student freaks out in exam LMFAO”.

#9 Confusion 

We’ve all had that moment in an exam when we’ve turned the page and wondered if our paper got mixed up with instructions for building Martian spacecraft.

Was this stuff really in the course materials? Is the faculty trolling you? Is Ashton Kutcher hiding in a closet somewhere?

Much like Amber Run, you have no answers.

#10 Relief

For all the trials and hardships of the exam period, there are few feelings better than walking out of your final exam, knowing you’re done for the year. Like getting out of a bad relationship or taking off your shoes after a 10-hour shift, the sense of freedom is profound and intoxicating.

Speaking of which, now that you’re free, it might be time to do some shots.

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Need some music to help get you through exams? Spotify has your back. Undergrad students can sign up for Spotify Premium for only $5.99 – half the usual price. Find out more here.

(Lead image: Girls/HBO)