I’ve been trying to memorize chemical formulas of minerals for the past three hours. (Ca,Na)(Mg,Fe,Al)(Si,Al)2O6…. My eyes are glazing over. I rest my forehead on my notebook and sigh. How am I ever going to remember all of this by Monday?
When I was attending a school on the semester system, our “Dead Week” was just that – a week without classes that was intended to allow us to prepare for exams and write papers. When I first came to PSU, I heard people refer to Dead Week and assumed that it was the same as on a semester system. I was shocked when I realized that wasn’t the case. Finals during my first term were a very stressful experience. I was angry and frustrated that I was expected to learn new material while reviewing the material from the rest of the term.
Since that first term, I’ve gotten used to how finals on the quarter system work, but I still find it unfair. If an exam is worth such a significant portion of our grade, shouldn’t we be given adequate time to prepare? Obviously, making each term one week longer would shorten our summer break, but there is a six-week break between the end of summer term and fall term as is.
What do you think? Would you rather have an actual Dead Week or are things fine as they are?