In the days leading up to finals week, it's not hard to find tired, stressed out students around campus, trying to grab a few more minutes of cramming.

To try and avoid this, Penn State and most other universities offer study days to allow students time to catch up and study.

Some students are unsure of the purpose of the study days at Penn State, which schedules its study days for the Saturday and Sunday before finals.

"They are just to make the university look good. It's not like we get off for having them. They are on the weekend," said Abbey Thomas (sophomore-kinesiology).

However, Penn State students may be considered lucky by some other university students.

Some Big Ten Schools, such as the University of Illinois, the University of Wisconsin and the University of Minnesota, do not grant students as much study time.

This year, Illinois students finish their classes on Wednesday, May 7, and get a scheduled reading day Thursday, May 8. In the past, "The reading day hasn't been very useful," said Felipe Hillard, an executive member of Illinois' student government.

The Friday after the reading day is the first of six days of final exams, including Saturday tests. Final exam periods are also three hours long.

"Students say 'This is dumb,' but don't think they can do anything about it. The general consensus is just to go along with it," Hillard said.

"So one of our big things this year is working with faculty to reduce finals to five days and get an extra study day in there."

University of Wisconsin students also only receive one study day and also have a six day exam period with Saturday finals.

Darrell Balderrama, an Associated Students of Madison representative, said he has heard a few complaints from students, especially about 7 a.m. finals.

Wisconsin seniors are the students unhappiest with the current finals schedule.

"Our exams go until the night before graduation, and most of the seniors don't like that It's difficult to cater to family and friends when you have to worry about your exams," Balderrama said.

Once Thomas heard what other schools' final exam schedules are like, the Penn State schedule seemed easier to work with.

"8 p.m. exams are bad enough, but Saturdays? No, I wouldn't like them," Thomas said.