Dead week is officially upon us. It’s the time of year that is the most stressful. It’s a constant test of our patience and motivation to do well on finals.

For you freshmen who don’t know what dead week is, it’s essentially just a week dedicated to less homework and more studying. Due to the intense studying, there aren’t as many events or parties taking place; hence the name “dead” week. Finals are approaching, and students go to desperate measures to do well on their tests. These measures include sleep deprivation to study, the consumption of an unhealthy amount of caffeine, weekday drinking, etc. Not healthy, but supposedly necessary to get your desired score on a final.

For those of you who become sleep deprived because you study too much, I can’t relate. I will never stay up extra late studying for a test. I will either study during the day, or I will accept defeat and try to do my best. I feel like studying too long can be a waste of time. If you study for four hours and don’t get the score you wanted, you likely could have studied for half that time and gotten the same score. Then, you feel stupid because you spent an extra two hours studying when you would have gotten the same score by not studying for two extra hours. This may not happen to everyone, but I feel like it applies to me. I have studied very little for tests and done well, where in other cases I have studied a lot and done poorly. I’m not saying study for 10 minutes and call it good, rather I am suggesting you study wisely and take time into consideration.

As a freshman, dead week was awesome. My finals weren’t too difficult, so I really didn’t study all that much. They weren’t hard because a majority of them weren’t cumulative, so I had a lot of free time. I could go to the Wellness Center and have a basketball court to myself. You never get a court to yourself, but during dead week you do. You never get that booth table at West Dining Center, but during dead week you do. You can usually grab a spot at the library, but not during dead week (unless you’re lucky).

This year, I have multiple cumulative tests, so I actually will have to study a little bit. I hate cumulative exams. I wish teachers could just introduce a new topic and just test you on that particular topic. They feel like they have to fit a whole semester’s worth of information into one test. No wonder college kids never have their lives together. It’s simply too much information to take in all at once. By introducing only one new topic for the final and making it like any other test, we still learn all the material in the class. Classes would go at a slower pace because there wouldn’t be a week or two dedicated to a final. This would also give students the full potential to learn all the material due to the slower pace. I realize students need to be “challenged,” but there are more effective ways to teach a class than by assigning a final.

I hope everyone has a nice dead week and doesn’t study themselves into the ground. I’m not telling you not to study, but just know your limitations. If you get a bad score, it’s not the end of the world. Life will go on and everything will work out the way it’s supposed to. If you have to beg for extra credit, do it. There’s no guarantee they will say yes, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Who knows? You might get lucky and have an understanding teacher that’s willing to let you earn your stripes again.

Here’s the bottom line: get yourself some coffee, spend a little less time playing video games/working out and a little more time preparing for that test you need to get a good score on to avoid getting a D. It will all be worth it once the first day of winter break starts. You can then rejoice and not do homework for almost a month, but for now, hit the books. After all, that’s what dead week is all about.