I remember dozens of term papers, final essays and project reports I had to write and work on during high school and college.
They took up lots of hours, editing, formatting and re-proofing. Making sure you adhere to the prescribed formats (seriously, if it asked for double-spacing and you did it differently, you lost some valuable % marks)
Then, you had to ensure it was bound correctly (spiral for some professors, book-style for others).
All this, was usually done till late in the evening or till dawn of the morning it was due for submission.
Finally, of course, if it wasn’t submitted on-time, you ended up with having all this hardwork not being accepted at all.
Today, years after graduating, I still have my own version of this. And they are called TENDERS.
Unfrackingly similar in terms of requirements (each page has to be signed, with company seal AND full name and phone number handwritten- on a 170 page document)!!!
The same your-life-hangs-in-the-balance paper.
The college ones helped you graduate.
The tenders help you survive as a company.
The more things change, the more they remain the same (quoted/translated from Karr’s French original)