It’s that time again. Summer glimmers in the distance, and the only thing between us and finals are reading days — which (ironically) add stress.

Initially, reading days make sense. They provide a little downtime after the last week of classes for us to prepare for exams. Though after talking with students regarding the examination period, students don’t share the same feelings regarding the days off. 

The prevailing consensus is that final exams take an excessive amount of time. The last day of classes is Friday, April 26 and final exams last until Thursday, May 9. For some students almost 12 days elapse before they can claim their freedom. 

While professors think students take advantage of the 12 days to study, most students who live nearby go home and come back in time for their tests. Whether students take advantage of being home to study cannot be determined, but from my experience leaving campus usually means leaving my studies behind. Home doesn’t have as many distractions as college, but the environment is not meant for schoolwork. 

Reading days make sense to the outside observer, but they secretly create more tension than they relieve. By this point in the semester students know their professors, understand their grading and know how to succeed. If you haven’t figured it out by now, then it might be too late, but for those of you who have, you will study the same amount whether there are reading days or not. 

Stress accumulates during reading days. We won’t take these days to study, but I have no doubt the exams will be on your mind like a nagging itch. At this point finals are like ripping off a Band-Aid — you want to finish them early and quickly. It might not be painless, but who is to say ripping off a Band-Aid is either? 

Also, the pain that radiates from your last final will most likely be stronger than the first exam. You can’t study for the last final with three others in front of it unless you want to get an anthropological view of organic chemistry. Naturally, the last final on the schedule is the one for which we prepare least.

Larger universities across the country who have a larger number of students enrolled complete finals in less time than N.C. State. Considering the days solely dedicated toward finals, we have nine days. Ohio State and University of Central Florida, two of the largest universities in the country, finish in seven days. You might say I am only choosing universities that support my argument, but throughout my web search the common number was seven. Colleges similar to N.C. State only had eight or nine finals days, but seven was the average. We can complete every single class offered on campus within a five-day week, so why do exams require almost double the time? 

More often than not, examination period is filled with students trying to keep themselves occupied. For those of you who might not escape campus for home before exams, the large volume of downtime can make time management even harder. Without any commitments or classes, your schedule becomes less disciplined, requiring more individual discipline to schedule time in between tanning sessions to study for each individual test. The gift of time can be too much if it’s given all at once. 

Reading days are unfortunately here to stay, but try not to let the stress gauge max out before your first exam rolls around.