This is reasonably accurate as far as the average PhD experience goes. I do always encourage my PhD students to take some time off during holidays and after maj

This is reasonably accurate as far as the average PhD experience goes. I do always encourage my PhD students to take some time off during holidays and after major deadlines, rather than berate them when "slacking off" (unless that's all they do). Stuff missing: holidays and deciding whether to travel home or study / read papers (I missed holidays myself during my PhD), feeling envious of peers from pre-PhD living great lives, having kids during one's PhD (that would be hard mode), drama in authorship of collaborative papers, etc. The last year anxiety is accurate for most. It is also missing the job search in the final years. For many disciplines, 3 strong papers is the minimum for graduating, but if one really wants to get a faculty position or even a job as a research scientist at more prestigious institutes, probably 6 papers is better.