A college student decides to go to a party the night before a major exam instead of studying. After receiving a low score on the exam, the student tells a fellow student, "I have to work too much and don't have time to study. It wouldn't matter anyway because the teacher is so unreasonable." The defense mechanisms the student is using are A) Denial and displacement B) Rationalization and projection C) Reaction formation and resistance D) Regression and compensation

Projection: In psychology, the term projection is one of the defense mechanism in which an individual tries to cope up with difficult emotions or feelings sub-consciously. Individual tends to project undesirable emotions or emotions on someone else instead of dealing with those feelings and emotions.

Rationalization: One of the defense mechanisms given by Sigmund Freud in which an individual tends to describe a controversial behavior logically to ignore true explanations.