Let’s talk about “dead” week, aka the busiest week of many students’ lives.
Rumor has it, this week is supposed to be one with no classes (or optional classes) and no assignments or projects due in order to give students a full week to prepare for finals. Hence the name “dead” week. At UW, this is most certainly not the case.
Rather, it is usually crammed with projects, early finals and tons of assignments.
The reality is, this week I have eleven mandatory classes to attend, two exams, three written assignments to turn in and two major projects to present. Doesn’t sound very “dead” to me.
And I’m not the only one.
Santana Keith, a second-year student-athlete majoring in kinesiology said her dead week this semester is anything but dead.
“I have 14 classes, including three labs, an exam and two projects due along with typical assignments,” she said.
How are we expected to adequately study for the finals that we have the actual week of finals if we are already cramming for finals during dead week? Obviously we can’t and I’m sure that our grades suffer due to this.
It’s not fair to call the week before finals “dead.” It should be treated like finals week, because most teachers are just as anxious as their students for the semester to be over. Why else would they have every major, grade-altering project crammed into the week before everything is supposed to be due?
The end of the semester is a crazy time for everyone. From graduates to teachers to all those in between, it’s almost impossible to prepare for all the things we need to do during these last couple weeks.
It also doesn’t help that we are way too excited about summer break to completely focus on studying.
While we are all studying for the two or three finals that actually land on finals week, we are also running around like chickens without heads to prepare for exams that are a little premature.
At this point, “dead” week might as well be finals week. Most of us have more tests and projects due this week anyways, plus it would let us start our summer break earlier.
Let’s imagine a true “dead” week…classes are optional review sessions, there are no assignments or early tests and students have one week to fully prepare for the “hell” week feel that comes with finals. Sounds a lot smarter to me.
If UW were to use “dead” week as it was originally intended, we could develop more successful test-takers, can I get a hear-hear?
