This post is what it feels like to leave an assignment to the last minute. If you currently have 24 hours until the assignment, don’t read any further and get to work. Trust me, get it over and done with. DO NOT repeat this 24 hour timeline below.
If you are planning on leaving an assignment until the last minute, read below. This is a timeline of what happens when you leave your assignment until the last minute.
24 hours until submission
Realise that you have an assignment due in exactly 24 hours.
This is when you will say to yourself the famous old saying “due tomorrow, do tomorrow.” You will slip off to bed to watch six hours on Netflix. Even though you won’t really enjoy Netflix, as you will feel guilty the entire time.
18 hours until submission
You decide that you will give your assignment a good crack. You think to yourself “if I write my introduction, and first two paragraphs, I can watch episode 12 of Gossip Girl season 4”.
So you give it a crack, and you make solid progress. You get to the stage where you have decided on the heading, format and have done three lines of an introduction.
17 hours 48 minutes until submission
You decide to reward yourself, as you should. You did some great ground-breaking work. You assure yourself that, next study session, you will easily smash out paragraph one, two and three. You run off to bed to watch more Gossip Girl.
13 hours until submission
You just finished the season of Gossip Girl, and decide to give your assignment another crack. You sit down at your computer, look at the time and think “its dinner time, I’ll start after dinner”.
12 hours until submission
You sit down at your desk, feeling full of energy after your solid two packets of Mi Goreng, and feel pumped to destroy your assignment.
You spend the next 30 days of your life working on this masterpiece of an assignment, and get to the conclusion.
10 hours until submission
You look at the time and realise that that what felt like 30 days was less than two hours, but you don’t mind as you have almost finished your assignment. You decide to take a break and see what your housemates/family are doing.
8 hours until submission
You realise that you just wasted two hours of your life fighting with your housemates about whether the tomato sauce belongs in the fridge or in the pantry. (The correct answer is the pantry. WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU WANT COLD TOMATO SAUCE ON HOT ITEMS OF FOOD!?)
You sit down, look at the time, and realise that tonight is going to be a late one.
4 hours until submission
You are now a walking zombie. You have stayed up until 5am to finish off this assignment. You can’t even think straight but you are happy that you have completed the assignment. You go to bed feeling like you have just conquered Mount Everest.
1 hour until submission
Your alarm goes off. You hate that you’ve done this to yourself yet again. You promise yourself that you will never ever ever ever EVER do this again, as it is too draining on yourself. You get up and drag yourself into the shower.
30 minutes until submission
You wake freezing cold. You realise that you have been in the shower so long that the water has turned to ice. You get out and get ready. You run out the door without grabbing any food as you’re running late.
5 minutes until submission
You arrive at uni and start heading to the submission office. You see your lecturer walking towards the box to collect your assignment. You start sprinting, run into 4 chairs and fall over twice. But you manage to overtake your lecturer. You’re in the clear!
2 minutes until submission
You hand in your assignment! WOOO! You can now go home and sleep. You’re really excited as you plan on sleeping for 20 hours straight.
Then you realise that you can’t do that. You have classes from 9:30 until 5:30. And then another assignment due tomorrow afternoon.
You then cry.
*Writers note
This experience may differ from person to person; however, I guarantee you will say to yourself once you have finished that you will never do this again. If you need any help with time management, the Learning Skills Advisors (LSAs) that the uni provides free of charge are an awesome asset and will do wonders for you. They can also help you with your assignment if you are organised so it’s a win/win! If you’re about to face that dreadful 24 hours, best of luck! And remember, you can do it.
– Aaron