It’s that time of year again: the headcount of students in the library skyrockets, students are overwhelmed and professors are speed grading.

Finals are right around the corner and students are scrambling to review a semesters worth of material for their final exams.

Most students are exhausted and frazzled as this week progresses and not having reading days adds to the problem.

Although the legislation to add reading days in waiting for approval from Faculty Senate for the 2012 to 2013 academic year, they should have been added this year.

We did not have a reading day last semester either. It’s difficult for any student to go to the last day of class and take a final exam the next day.

I do know that one of the reasons that reading days were taken away was how SMU students chose to spend their free time.

But let’s face it: we cannot take away the reading days from the students who actually need it.

Even without reading days, there will always be those who choose to party on days they don’t have finals.

It is wrong to punish those students who use the reading days, for the portion that don’t care to use them for finals.

Many of SMU peer universities offer reading days. Rice University and Tulane have two reading days.

Vanderbilt University offers one reading day. Baylor University also offers two reading days.

I think it’s crazy for students to not have any days off before rushing into final exams.

We’re tested on everything the professor has covered. Finals are much bigger than mid-semester exams, and they usually count for a larger percentage of our final grades.

The sentiment is that professors sometimes forget that their class is not the only class that student take.

Most students take five to six classes a semester, meaning we have to study for usually five finals, with some occurring on the same day.

Without any reading days to prepare, does SMU really expect students to be able to perform our best on these finals?

I think no. I know that I would be able to prepare for my Wednesday final a lot better if I did not have to attend class on Tuesday and I’m sure that most of the SMU student body agrees.

Reading days do not just benefit the students, but they also help the professors.

Most professors would like the extra time to prepare for finals and catch up on grading previous assignments.

For professors, grades are due soon after they hold their finals.

These extra reading days will allow them to get their grades in on time.

Faculty Senate has a decision to make and I think that we need at least one reading day before finals begin.

Tashika Varma is a junior majoring in communication studies. She is also the assignments desk editor.