As finals week approaches, student spend their time in Middleton Library, study rooms and coffee shops preparing for the most stressful time of the year during a week we like to call “dead week.” Students coined the term because it is the final stretch before the end of the semester, as well as a week full of cramming, due dates and stress.

Many teachers understand the term and respect we are strung out on caffeine and Easy Mac. They take a step back, halting online homework, classes and unnecessary work, watching us struggle from afar. However, others either do not understand the term “dead week” or just don’t care about it. There are professors who take dead week to assign projects, papers and hold their finals rather than leaving students alone to prepare for finals week.

Finals week can take a huge toll on the physical and mental health of a student. Waiting until the last minute or having so much banking on one test grade causes stress that can eat away at you, especially when you feel like that for not only one class but for all of them. Many students struggle with sleep, not eating enough and fatigue all week while preparing for the next. Throwing in even more for students to do is unfair and cruel.

Dead week should be dead week. There should not be any other homework assignments, projects or tests. All students should have the advantage of focusing only on finals during this hard week. Teacher’s need to respect that we have so much more going on that what we must do for their class alone. Many students have heavy course loads, part-time jobs and other heavy tasks.

Many times, professors don’t consider what students are doing outside of their class. Our lives are busy, just as the professors are. Dead week should be a week solely devoted to the chugging of CC’s coffee, crying in Middleton and studying for final exams, not working on new homework assignments, papers or projects.

Casey Pimentel is a 19-year-old mass communication sophomore from The Woodlands, Texas.