3 exams, 2 quizzes, and a speech. This is what my 'hell week' looks like this semester.

Just reading that line stresses me out! Hell week is a term used to reference the first week during the semester when things actually start to get hard. Starting the semester, classes are typically pretty easy. A few assignments here and there, but nothing too major. You are coasting along telling yourself how this is going to be “your semester”, and that is precisely when your world gets flipped upside down.

As a student, I am 100% convinced that professors get together and plan all exams either on the same day or same week as each other as a way to test our time management skills. I miss the days in high school where only certain subjects could test on certain days. Now it is a free-for-all and my stress levels are completely through the roof.

Some students thrive off this kind of pressure and stress; however, I am not one of them and I do not believe I should have to be to succeed academically. In a perfect college world each exam, quiz, speech, assignment whatever would be perfectly spaced out allowing for maximum study/ preparation time. But we all know it is not like that. Granted yes, my time management skills could still definitely use some work. But there is only so much I can cram into my brain at once and professors are constantly pushing that limit.

Personally, I think staying up all hours of the night to prepare for an exam seems crazy, and I am going to tell you why.

Pulling an ‘all-nighter’ for studying is often times unavoidable. For those of you who have never pulled one, I cannot relate and we are no longer friends. Just kidding... sort of. The idea behind an all-nighter is to stay up all night doing assignments or preparing for an upcoming exam. You believe going in “oh how bad could it be?” Let me tell you they are the absolute worst! Everything is going great until you hit somewhere around 3am. This is when you body is typically in its deepest sleep, but instead, it is trying to cram for a chemistry exam that is now five hours away. And this type of studying is completely normal throughout campus nationwide! Encouraging students to stay up all night in preparation is not something we as students should have to be accustomed too.

Hell week is a term you will hear on every college campus. An awful term that causes stress and anxiety just from hearing it. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about it. College can be tough, so grab a 5 Hour Energy and head to the library because it is going to be a long night.