As Finals Week and the end of the fall 2013 semester approaches, students are beginning to focus on their upcoming final exams.

Students know this week as Dead Week. According to the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost, “for each fall and spring semester, the last full week of classes before final examinations is designated as Dead Week. The intent of this policy is to establish a one-week period of substantial and predictable study time for undergraduate students. During the Dead Week period, regular lectures are expected to continue, including the introduction of new content, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.”

The restrictions established by this Dead Week policy are:

• Due dates for mandatory graded submissions of any kind that fall within Dead Week must be listed on the syllabus provided at the start of the course.

• Mandatory final examinations may not be given during the Dead Week period except for laboratory courses or courses that meet weekly and for which there is no contact during the normal final examination week.

• Registered ISU student organizations may not hold any meetings, functions or sponsored events during the Dead Week period. Any exception to these restrictions must be authorized in advance by Office of the Dean of Students.”

Students sometimes get the impression that Dead Week is a week with no classes, tests or homework, while the true intention is that the week is used to allow student to prepare for Finals Week.

Lisa Davis, junior in graphic design, said that design students have more projects to complete instead of tests to study for.

“We spend our time in the studio doing projects rather than studying flashcards,” Davis said.

Davis also said that Finals Week for design students is more spread out through the end of the semester in which the students prepare for their final projects.

“I like getting my projects done at least two days ahead of time so that way if anything goes wrong I can have some time to fix the problem,” Davis said.

Davis also stated that she works more during Dead Week on her projects than during Finals Week.

Spencer Hyde, junior in biology and Spanish, said the amount of work given during Dead Week depends on the instructor.

“Some of my classes’ Dead Week is more of a review and then in others we are learning more material for a test that is during Dead Week,” Hyde said.

Brittany Trow, junior in Spanish, said some of her instructors have made class attendance optional for students due to the amount of review that will take place during class.

“It’s nice to have no club meetings or chapter meetings for sororities and fraternities, so it is a nice week to unwind and prepare for finals,” Trow said.

The hardest part for some students is the amount of work that is due in the short amount of time that is given.

“The most stressful part is figuring what you have to do, how you have to do it and when you have to do it by in order to get it all done,” said Molly Cullen, sophomore in marketing and international business.

To reduce the stress of Dead Week, some students agree that canceling classes would be the most effective way of reducing stress for students. Betsy Young, sophomore in marketing, agrees that canceling class would reduce stress.

“I think they should cancel class because it doesn’t really make sense to have homework and quizzes up until Finals Week,” Young said.

Cullen and Young both agree that limiting the homework load for students would help students better prepare for finals. Having facilities such as Parks Library, Gerdin Business Building and other popular studying locations open earlier and close later would be beneficial for students. Keeping Bookends Cafe open longer is also something Cullen and Young would like the school to implement during Dead Week and Finals Week.

Colin Odland, sophomore in kinesiology, has his fourth organic chemistry test during Dead Week and a final exam the next week in the same class. He also has two lab tests this week on top of studying for finals.

“It’s not Dead Week for me; it’s an additional week of finals,” Odland said.