Reading week, reading review week, review period, dead week: whatever you want to call it, the University of Maryland does not have one.

Students at the University of Maryland take pride in their work and study very hard to earn their grades. The last two weeks of school are critical to a student's success and put a lot of pressure on students. Students must work as hard as they can to finish the semester strong and complete their semester-long projects, deliver their final presentations, write their final papers, and study for their final exams. 

To maximize academic performance, reduce stress, increase morale, and improve the overall health and well-being of students, the University of Maryland should give students a dead week prior to the beginning of the final examination period. 

Final exams are sometimes worth 20-60% of a student's final grade and can put a tremendous amount of pressure on a student to succeed. This stress can be detrimental to a student's academic success. Having multiple exams during this week, and sometimes even multiple exams on a given day, it can be very difficult for students to budget their time and study for their classes to accurately reflect their best understanding of the material. 

Allocating a dead week for students to study prior to their final exams would increase the well-being of students tremendously, giving students the opportunity to complete projects, essays, and study for their final exams in a more practical and manageable fashion. 

Calling for the implementation of a dead week is not a new or novel idea. Dead weeks have already been implemented at a variety of institutions across the nation and even around the world. It is in the university's best interest to grant students with this dead week prior to the final examination period to give students a chance to perform to the best of their ability.

As students and future leaders, we came to the University of Maryland to pursue our fearless ideas and achieve greatness. The implementation of a dead week is a catalyst to unlock greater success and will only serve to promote the academic excellence that brings pride to the university.