Student Perspective on Hell Weeks

By WILLIAM INOUE, ANDREW YANG,  JADE YOO, and FORREST ZENG

Light snowfall atop the Academy bell tower

Courtesy of @phillipsexeter

Students had mixed reactions to the two-and-a-half weeks of school in the new term before Winter Break, colloquially known as “hell weeks.” While some students found the time stressful and busy, new students, mostly lowerclassmen, felt that the two weeks were overdramatized. 

This year, hell weeks, from Dec. 4 to 20,  included an extra three days before the break. Students had varying opinions on these additional days of school. “I was affected by it since I had a test on Wednesday that hurt my grade,” lower Noah Twilley said.

Some students liked or didn’t notice the extra days at all. “I didn’t notice,” lower Will Samuels said. “It didn’t feel any different compared to my prep year.”

“I actually did like it,” senior Sophie Zhu said. “I felt that major assignments were more dispersed across those days. Instead of many majors in two or three days, it was spread over four or five, and also a weekend to prepare.”

Though some students expressed neutral or positive sentiments about this year’s hell weeks, many students did report feeling stressed. 

“It felt like a less important finals week,” lower Max Liu said. “The stakes aren’t as high, but you still feel the pressure to do well before break.”

Prep Dani Mendez said, “It felt pretty okay, but a lot of work kept me busy. Fortunately, after finishing all of my work, I was able to return home for break and not really do work.”

Prep Grace Yang said, “Hell weeks felt pretty chill because I am a prep, but there was a lot of added stress because there were a lot of new assignments and tests. Winter Break was my main motivation, but knowing [school] is not pass-fail anymore also made me realize that I had to try really hard.”

“Hell weeks weren’t as bad as I expected, although I was occasionally stressed by tests,” lower Avery Im said. “I just ate with my friends at D-Squared to cope with the stress.”

Prep Ishaan Singh said, “It was mostly biology, because I had a biology test. It kept me stressed the entire time.” 

Lowers and upperclassmen observed a noticeable uptick in work. “I was very stressed during hell weeks. Going in, I expected them to be bad, and that was met,” Twilley said. “Clubs during those weeks also had major assignments alongside classes, particularly robotics.”

Lower Ronald Qiao added, “Although winter break was a strong motivator, I still found it challenging to maintain momentum.”

Adjusting to extracurriculars was another source of discomfort for some students. Lower Lana Wu said, “I had two swim meets, which kept me busy. I also do music, but with my new schedule it’s hard to get practice.”

The onset of shorter days and decreasing temperatures compounded with academic stress during hell weeks. “I’ve never been to school in the dark,” Singh said.

Hell weeks were a particularly significant time in the college application process for seniors at Exeter. “On top of school work and college applications, it was pretty rough. Especially with early decisions, there was added tension between people,” Zhu said. “I was definitely stressed by the workload of college applications.”

“However, I was very glad to have the support of my family and friends,” Zhu continued. 

“They are always a good motivator throughout hell weeks.”

On the other hand, there were also some students that did not feel the same amount of stress, noticeably new students. Prep Artur Novae said, “I feel like people made a bigger deal out of what it really was. It kept me busy, but it wasn’t that stressful.” 

“Since pass-fail was over, it made me more focused,” prep Ian Lanning said. “I didn’t feel the content was more stressful. However, since I started sports this term, I have had to learn to balance academics and sports.” 

“I thought they were a lot easier than I expected,” Im said. “Everyone was hyping them up as very scary. My teachers were extremely supportive and were willing to help. It was hard, just not as hard as I thought it would be.”