3. If there is no signal word, then what?

3.2. Past tenses: past be+ing, past simple, past perfect

Ndrina

Yes, that’s how much I was struggling. When the time came for the midterms, I had already studied everything, I was sleepless for months, but yet the results were not the best.

 

⇒ I was struggling - past be + ing - the action (struggle) was in progress in the past. It is often translated with the French tense “imparfait”

In the sentence “(1) When the time came for the midterms, (2) I had already studied everything” the two actions are not presented chronologically. The first action (came) happened after the second mentioned (study) but the speaker chooses to present them like that.