Dead week

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Dead week is a slang term for the week before final exams in the United States of America. The week is known thus because of the propensity for college and university students to save exam study until the last possible week, and because term papers are often due. Students prepare for the exams and papers by pulling all-night study sessions, usually with the aid of stimulants such as coffee, NoDoz pills and Red Bull. During this period some students will suffer from sleep deprivation, increased irritability, and stress.

[edit] College-specific examples

• At Stanford University, students have developed a "primal scream" tradition, in which students open their dormitory windows and scream at midnight, every night of dead week. This tradition also exists at other institutions including Davidson College, the Georgia Institute of Technology and Michigan State University (where it is referred to as Midnight Screamings).
• At Drake University, the "primal scream" is practiced the Friday before finals but there are plans currently to make it a weekly event.
• At Cornell, dead week is more commonly referred to as "hell week", and starts after the weekend of the last week of classes, only ending with the last final exam. The scream tradition occurs on the night before the first finals start, where students scream in unison across the campus and collegetown at midnight.
• Primal Scream (Harvard) takes place at midnight on the last night before final exams begin. The week after final exams but before graduation week is known as dead week.
• At Princeton University, it is the period after Spring term final exams but before Reunions begin.
• At the University of Puget Sound, dead week is referred to as "reading period", and is two days long.
• At the State University of New York at Stony Brook, dead week starts during the two days before final exams start (known as "reading days") and continues until almost two weeks later, when final exams finish for the semester. The popularity of the "primal scream" has grown to be so great here that students can be found practicing the tradition at various points during the middle of semesters as well (before midterms), and sometimes on ordinary Thursday nights, just to celebrate the end of the week for most students.
• At UC Berkeley, Dead week is the day between the end of instruction and the beginning of finals. During this period and through the end of finals some facilities such as the library are open twenty four hours a day. As might be expected, the libraries are all packed.
• At MIT, the term "Dead week" is also used to refer to a one-week period between senior week (a period of activities for graduating seniors after the end of term) and commencement, since little to no events are scheduled during this week. It is common for students to plan vacations with their friends during this week.
• At Marist College, "Dead Week" is synonymous with "Reading Weekend," or the days between the end of classes and the beginning of Final Exams. During the fall semester, the college's annual charity Giving Tree - a 30 foot high indigenous pine in center campus- is lit with nearly 50,000 lights on the Saturday of Dead Week, after which students make a short trip to the James A. Cannavino Library to commence studying. In the spring semester, "Senior Week," refers to the week between the end of finals, and Commencement. "River Fest" on Marist's banks along the Hudson River typify the week with fireworks and music; lareghly viewed as an event where graduating seniors see their professors for one last time.
• At Iowa State University, Dead Week has become an official University recognized event. Student organizations are not allowed to meet. There are 23/7 mandatory quiet hours in the student dormitories (the non-quiet, 24th hour is dubbed Rowdy Hour). Professors are barred from giving examinations and making large assignments due during the week if the examination or assignment is not on the syllabus for the class.
• At Southwestern University, dead week is also known as "hell week", and lasts the full week before examinations. It is known as hell week because most professors have term papers and projects due throughout the week, with finals following only a few days later. The scream tradition is held throughout campus at 10pm on the Wednesday night of finals week, and otherwise, 24 hour quiet hours are enforced throughout the residence halls.

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