Dead days, ‘Hell Week’ leave students lifeless

Thanks to piles of last-minute tests, projects and assignments during “Hell Week” and dead days, studying for finals is even more stressful than it should be. Of course, teachers encourage their students to start studying early to beat some of the stress. Although this would relieve pressure from finals week and the week before, there is a problem.

With two powerpoints, a film, a poster, a book report and the final chapters of the math book to finish up, it can be difficult to ditch the tons of homework and projects to study for finals, many of which are worth roughly 20 percent of a student’s semester grades.

As finals near, dead days and the week before finals are unfairly made to be even more stressful than they should be. Teachers assign copious amounts of last-minute work, ignoring the fact that they failed to have finished the curriculum in the expected time before final exams.

For some students, it gets even worse. The Music Department, for instance, is very busy around this time of year with many concerts, fundraisers and other activities, making life in December even more stressful and unmanageable.

Science teacher Karen Davis believes the reason behind all of this last-minute work is due to some teachers’ inability to finish their curricula in time.

“This fall was pretty chopped up with short days, minimum days and short weeks,” Davis said.

Davis also begins her dead day period earlier because she wants her students to study. To prevent student stress, teachers should plan their schedules out more effectively so they aren’t forced to cram in too much additional work when students should be focusing on their finals.

Teachers should also com-municate with each other in advance to ensure that they aren’t giving their students large burdens such as all scheduling tests on the same day.

Some work could be acceptable if it is targeted in the best interests of the students. So rather than squeezing in one more chapter in the textbook, teachers can move on to review.

If both teachers and students want to maximize students’ chances of success on their finals, the stress of finals should not be elongated into dead days and Hell Week?

Many students can relate to the horrible feelings of overwhelming pressure. Teachers should not continue to give assignments that add to student pressure during this crucial point. Instead, they should schedule their semester curricula more carefully, allowing dead days to be helpful rather than detrimental.