Where’s the ‘dead’ in dead week?

Among university students across the country, the term ‘dead week’ is a fairly well known phrase. However, for many students at MSU, dead week is virtually nonexistent. 

 ‘Dead week’ is the week right before finals week and is meant to be a time in which professors only review material, classes are not mandatory to attend and students are given more down time to study for their upcoming exams. Though some students at MSU are given this luxury, most are not.

 For the most part, our so-called ‘dead week’ is anything but dead. Professors continue to cram their lectures with information they didn’t have time to get to throughout the year to meet class requirements and last minute projects and assignments are often due. So, do we actually get a true dead week? Many students agree that we’re definitely getting cheated out of some down time before the anxiety surrounding finals kicks in.

 Luckily, there are ways to still survive finals without extra time to study. For one, if you have classes with mandatory attendance, go to class. This will help to avoid stress and allow you to be present for additional information that will be on the final exam.

 Another way to prepare for finals without a dead week is to study early. Studies have shown that students who study earlier and over a longer period of time leading up to a test generally score higher. To help with your study process, it can be beneficial to keep your study space clean, or even switch up your study location. Along with studying, use the time leading up to finals week to make sure you have any final projects or assignments completed. Putting these off until the last minute can add to your already large (and growing) amount of stress.

 Finally, don’t forget to take care of yourself. Make sure to get plenty of sleep, eat healthy food that will fuel your brain and drink plenty of water. Pulling all nighters may be appealing, and maybe even feel necessary, during this time, but taking care of your body can improve energy and attention levels. Dead week really isn’t that ‘dead’ for us, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still do well on our final projects and exams.