Finals week: the last week of school before summer or winter break where students are stressed to the max and trying to make it through the semester with their GPA still intact. It's the seven days that have possibly the worst connotation on a college campus. Many students agree that a close second to finals week is midterms. But, most people don't seem to understand that midterms are in fact much worse than finals week. Don't believe me? Keep reading.
Finals week takes place at the end of the semester, so everything is winding down to make room for students to have more studying time available to them. Club meetings, sorority/fraternity chapter, and sporting events all take a break during finals week. There is literally a "dead day" reserved for studying that no university-sponsored organization can plan a required event on.
The same cannot be said about midterms. Midterms happen in the middle of the semester, so everything is in full swing. Members of Greek organizations are expected to attend chapter and functions while still studying for five tests in two weeks. Athletes still have to participate in practice and games while midterms are coming at them in full force. Students get a break in extracurriculars at the end of the semester, shouldn't the same happen for the tests in the middle?
Another thing that goes along with finals being at the end of the semester is the fact that there is at least a month coming their way of freedom from school. There is the mindset that "if I make it through three more tests, then the whole summer is mine".
This is not so with midterms. With midterms, you're thinking "oh, I've got four tests this week and when I'm done with them I have class again on Monday."
Breaks are nice, midterms are not.
Finals are also so spread out, that you sometimes have days between them where there is nothing to do but study. Midterms might have a few days between exams, but you're actively going to class during those days. You don't get to stop everything and study for that one test that you're worried about because you're expected to attend lectures for all your other classes.
The bottom line is-midterms suck. They're hard, stressful, and no doubt worse than finals week. Don't hate on someone complaining about midterms, because believe me, they're actually the worst.
