Rephrasing a sentence with negation and "except"

Question

I don't look as if I have done anything except study in the last three years.

I guess its meaning is two fold

1. In fact, there is only one thing that have been done which is "study in the last three years."
2. I wish I had done something other than study

Does the original sentense have the same meaning as the following two sentences?

a. I (do) look as if I have done nothing except study in the last three years.

b. I (do) look as if I have not done anything except study in the last three years.

I thought these are about double negation.

Answer 1

Both of OP's alternative phrasing are syntactically valid, and mean the same as the original, but neither of them are particularly idiomatic. Especially not with do (except in some bizarre context refuting someone who just claimed you didn't look like that).

Personally, I'd say the exact form of the cited original isn't particularly idiomatic anyway. I'd normally expect another contraction and for rather than in...

I don't look as if I've done anything except study for the last three years.