A Grad’s Guide to: Crunch Weeks
Written by Sarah Cooke
Edited by Jane Ling
Cover Image by Elena Chen
Ah, the crunch week. The dreaded moment that every Havergal student knows too well: when they open their Veracross calendar, only to find that they have an assignment (sometimes more than one) for every single one of their classes that week. The underlying buzz of stress seems to fill the school as students rush from one test, review period, or assessment to the next. Multi-assessment weeks are not new at Havergal, but with the return to non-semestered classes where every student is taking at least six courses at the same time, it seems more than ever that students are either preparing for, in the middle of, or recovering from a jam-packed, stress-filled week. Given how academically rigorous Havergal is, the workload hasn’t gotten any lighter over the four years I’ve been at Havergal. In fact, it has only gotten heavier. So, as someone who has experienced countless “crunch weeks” in my Havergal career, I’m here to share my thoughts and tips on how to navigate even the most jam-packed, stress-filled weeks.
When conducting interviews in preparation for this article, I decided that the best place to start was the source of the jam-packed weeks: the teachers, the ones doling out the assessments. Sometimes, as a student, when you see that all of your assessments are set for the same week, it’s hard to quiet that little voice in your head that says “Did the teachers not discuss this before deciding their deadlines? Do they not try to avoid this? Are all the teachers working together to perfectly orchestrate the most stressful week possible, with the ultimate end goal of my stress-induced demise?”. Well, according to teachers, multi-assessment weeks are harder to avoid than a student might assume. Due to the amount of content that they need to teach before any given assignment, teachers don’t have a lot of flexibility as to when they can give assessments. Therefore, when two classes fall into the same teaching or assessing cycle, it can be hard to break out of it.
More than just establishing the inevitability of those five or more assessment weeks, my conversations with several teachers brought up the potential benefits of jam-packed weeks, as well as some of the ways that teachers suggest managing your stress. Some teachers argued that assessment-filled weeks were useful in preparing students for the work and stress to come in their lives, be it in careers or in post-secondary schooling. Other teachers argued that many assignments can often be worked on prior to the assessment week itself and that this proactive approach could reduce some of the pressure that students feel the week of. One of the most insightful takeaways to come out of my conversations with the teachers was about working under optimal conditions. They argued that the busy weeks prepare students not just in managing workload, but in managing expectations. They argued that often in life, students will not be working in optimal conditions where they can complete each task to perfection, and that through the jam-packed weeks, students should learn to be content with work that isn’t perfect. And so goes the famous proverb: “perfect is the enemy of good”, or, if you’re a Havergal student, the equally famous saying “a 3 is provincial standard.”
Now, I know at this point you may be thinking “Can we speed this along? This article has been droning on for 500 words, we haven’t gotten any real advice, and I have seven assignments that I have due before tomorrow.” I assure you, the advice is coming soon, but first, a note on mass stress:
When I first came to Havergal, one of the things that shocked me most was not how much work there was, and not even how stressed each student seemed to be, but how that stress seemed to build upon the stress of others. I recently attended the Mental Health Periscope where there was a discussion about how Havergal students can almost become competitive about their stress, feeding off of the stress of others. For example, if you’re not stressed about a test but someone else is, then the implication is you must be doing something wrong. Although it’s easier said than done, one of my most significant pieces of advice - and one that I wish I could have said to my Grade Nine self - is to try not to buy into the collective stress. View your friends, your extracurriculars, and everything else unrelated to class not as something keeping you from being productive, but as a place of support and relaxation that provides the necessary rest you need to then do the best you can at your academics.
Of course, the best way to find out how to navigate Havergal’s multi-assessment weeks is to ask the students themselves. From my conversations with students from various grades, and from a lot of self-reflection, here are the best tips that I can give:
Compartmentalize: Be it a space, a place, or a routine, have something that you do, and only do, when you’re working. I like to have an entirely separate space that I dedicate just to working on my toughest assignments, but many students I talked to liked to focus on one subject at a time, one assignment per day, or just dedicate a specific time for each one of their tasks.
Give yourself time to relax. It can be hard to feel like you don’t have time for anything but work, but relaxation is essential for productivity. As someone who can get sucked into her phone, I know, personally, I need to dedicate time to doing something with the specific intention of self-care. Scrolling through my phone doesn’t count as “down time” for me, and I have actually found that if I dedicate time for relaxation, I’m less inclined to want mini distractions as I work.
Learn when you are most productive. Personally, I know that after a certain time at night, I simply cannot be productive enough to warrant staying up. Instead, I like to sleep, and then get up early to finish my work. What works for me might not work for everyone though, so - especially in your younger grades - finding out when you work best is crucial.
Utilize the teachers! As much as it seems unlikely when they assign you something the same day that you had other assignments due, the teachers truly do want you to succeed. You don’t even need to be in a dire situation – if you just want advice or some support, don’t hesitate to ask your teachers.
The ever-stressful multi-assessment weeks, it seems, are inevitable. There will always be weeks when you have multiple assessments, and very little you can do about it. While the workload might be the same, I hope, with the right strategies and mindset, that your crunch weeks in the future may be a bit less stressful and a bit more manageable.