Reading week at university is something which needs no introduction; it’s the period where lectures, tutorials, and your professors bugging you about deadlines become a distant memory of the week before, and you can focus on studying in the way that fits you best. But does everyone truly do that, or is it more of an opportunity to let loose for a while, go for a little holiday, binge drink, or even just rot in bed in an attempt to rejuvenate yourself?
Of course, the experience is different for everyone, as all things are, especially considering the fact that many people don’t study even when lectures are taking place. I think to understand what people do during reading week, whether they should or shouldn’t, we must first understand what the point of reading week actually is. With lectures ending, there is certainly a sense of a break, which we all take from reading week, finally free from the horrors of getting up at 7am for a lecture. Further, for many subjects, there is no specific assigned reading, thereby letting students catch up on their assignments or even complete some reading for the sake of pure passion. Recently, however, many students have been treating reading week like a miniature half-term.
However, I think there is a progression to how people use reading week. As a first year, my experience is of course mostly limited to my friends going home, partying and waking up on the bathroom floor on the first day of lectures following, and even more people going on ski-breaks and holidays (although I’m not as horrendously well-off to experience that); but as my horizons have broadened, I have realised that my peers in second, third and fourth year are very different. Over time, it seems that students grow into the habit of studying for the sake of it, taking their first year to let out steam, rot their liver and lungs, before very slowly, coffees and pub dates begin to creep in and take over. In second year, the maturing process sets in, with more nights in, ambient lighting and wine and cheese nights. This gradually develops even more in third year, because studying doesn’t simply mean passing now, but truly excelling, so reading weeks count somewhat. Finally, in fourth year, the transformation is complete, and students use the time to actually complete assignments, catch up on lectures, and engage in independent study for the sake of it, or else they spend every night in the library cramming for the next exam, or reading endless sources for their dissertation.
Therefore, the answer to whether people use reading week efficiently is a little more complicated than we think, as the best way to use it is very different for everyone. However, I would like to bet that at least five people interpret reading week very literally.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
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Do students actually use reading week to ‘read’?
Reading week at university is something which needs no introduction; it’s the period where lectures, tutorials, and your professors bugging you about deadlines become a distant memory of the week before, and you can focus on studying in the way that fits you best. But does everyone truly do that, or is it more of an opportunity to let loose for a while, go for a little holiday, binge drink, or even just rot in bed in an attempt to rejuvenate yourself?
Of course, the experience is different for everyone, as all things are, especially considering the fact that many people don’t study even when lectures are taking place. I think to understand what people do during reading week, whether they should or shouldn’t, we must first understand what the point of reading week actually is. With lectures ending, there is certainly a sense of a break, which we all take from reading week, finally free from the horrors of getting up at 7am for a lecture. Further, for many subjects, there is no specific assigned reading, thereby letting students catch up on their assignments or even complete some reading for the sake of pure passion. Recently, however, many students have been treating reading week like a miniature half-term.
However, I think there is a progression to how people use reading week. As a first year, my experience is of course mostly limited to my friends going home, partying and waking up on the bathroom floor on the first day of lectures following, and even more people going on ski-breaks and holidays (although I’m not as horrendously well-off to experience that); but as my horizons have broadened, I have realised that my peers in second, third and fourth year are very different. Over time, it seems that students grow into the habit of studying for the sake of it, taking their first year to let out steam, rot their liver and lungs, before very slowly, coffees and pub dates begin to creep in and take over. In second year, the maturing process sets in, with more nights in, ambient lighting and wine and cheese nights. This gradually develops even more in third year, because studying doesn’t simply mean passing now, but truly excelling, so reading weeks count somewhat. Finally, in fourth year, the transformation is complete, and students use the time to actually complete assignments, catch up on lectures, and engage in independent study for the sake of it, or else they spend every night in the library cramming for the next exam, or reading endless sources for their dissertation.
Therefore, the answer to whether people use reading week efficiently is a little more complicated than we think, as the best way to use it is very different for everyone. However, I would like to bet that at least five people interpret reading week very literally.
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Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
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