It’s that time of the semester again – finals week.

As finals are approaching, students find themselves getting worked up, or stressed about all of their upcoming exams. As a way to help manage the studying that comes with these tests, schools assign a dead week.

Dead week is a time where no major tests can be given to students five days before their finals. This way, students will be studying solely on their end-of-semester exams, and not a unit test for their Honors Algebra 2 class, or Anatomy and Physiology.

However, many teachers fail to obey this.

As a student, I understand that there are tests that need to be given in order for us to feel prepared for the finals, but why the week before?

If a class fails to be on schedule when the end of the semester is nearing, would a small quiz over the current unit be a better option? Instead of putting a student’s grade at risk when entering the finals, a quiz can ensure that certain topics are being discussed, while at the same time cushioning a student’s grade in case they happen to bomb it.

There are mixed emotions these last few weeks of school – summer is close, but our brains are focused on grades and schoolwork.

Dead week is the time for us to not worry about any upcoming assignments, and instead focus on exams for the following week. We do not have only one class to focus on, most of us are studying for seven.

There is no possible way to enter seven classes feeling prepared if no time was given to study a week in advance. Dead week is a necessity for us students.