📚 [Going in Jan or Feb] 67 exam-season weekdays, above the yearly average?

Exam season empties the schools, so the parks empty too — that is the usual line. Pull out only the plain weekdays, with public holidays, school breaks and weekends all stripped away, and the count points the other way.

"Exam season is quiet" does not survive a count of plain weekdays. Strip out public holidays, school breaks and weekends and 67 weekdays remain in January and February. In words they land on Normal, the same level as the year, but the average itself sits above it. Only 30 of them — 45% — came in below the yearly average.

Of these days, 67 are still ahead, and the table lists the 40 quietest. Public holidays, school breaks and weekends are all excluded. Each level is what we expect of that date, not a record of how many came.

• Jan 12TueFairly easyroom↓
• Jan 13WedFairly easyroom↓
• Jan 14ThuFairly easyroom↓
• Jan 19TueFairly easyroom↓
• Jan 20WedFairly easyroom↓
• Jan 21ThuFairly easyroom↓
• Jan 26TueFairly easyroom↓
• Jan 27WedFairly easyroom↓
• Jan 28ThuFairly easyroom↓
• Jan 11TueFairly easyroom↓
• Jan 12WedFairly easyroom↓
• Jan 13ThuFairly easyroom↓
• Jan 18TueFairly easyroom↓
• Jan 19WedFairly easyroom↓
• Jan 20ThuFairly easyroom↓
• Jan 25TueFairly easyroom↓
• Jan 26WedFairly easyroom↓
• Jan 27ThuFairly easyroom↓
• Jan 8FriNormalroom↑
• Jan 15FriNormalroom↑
• Jan 18MonNormalroom↓
• Jan 22FriNormalroom↑
• Jan 25MonNormalroom↓
• Jan 29FriNormalroom↑
• Jan 14FriNormalroom↑
• Jan 17MonNormalroom↓
• Jan 21FriNormalroom↑
• Jan 24MonNormalroom↓
• Jan 28FriNormalroom↑
• Jan 31MonNormalroom↓
• Feb 2TueNormalroom↓
• Feb 3WedNormalroom↓
• Feb 4ThuNormalroom↓
• Feb 9TueNormalroom↓
• Feb 10WedNormalroom↑
• Feb 16TueNormalroom↓
• Feb 17WedNormalroom↓
• Feb 18ThuNormalroom↓
• Feb 24WedNormalroom↓
• Feb 25ThuNormalroom↓

🎓 Exam-season weekdays did not come out quiet!

Strip out holidays, school breaks and weekends and 67 weekdays remain in January and February. Their average sits above the yearly average of Normal. That is the opposite of "the students are off, so the park is empty."

Only 30 of them (45%) come in under the yearly average — short of half. The other 37 sit above it.

📉 No peak days, and still above average!?

Of the 32 busiest days in the year, none falls inside these 67 days. Even the heaviest tops out at Busy. The ceiling is missing entirely.

The average still lands high because the floor is shallow. 15 days sit in the busy bands, while the lightest band, Fairly easy, holds 18. No peak is not the same as a deep trough.

🤨 Does "students are off" hold up at all?

Not a single public holiday survives inside these 67 days, and the winter and spring breaks are excluded, so what is left is pure post-break weekdays. Counted under the conditions most favourable to the claim, it still lands high.

Not every day is heavy, of course. Ahead of today the lightest is Jan 12 (Tue) at Fairly easy, the heaviest Feb 22 (Mon) at Busy. Quiet days exist; a quiet stretch does not.

🧭 What bites is the weekday, not the season!

Split those 67 days by weekday: Monday is heaviest at Fairly busy, Wednesday lightest at Normal. Even within "exam-season weekdays", the day you pick moves your level.

The month ranking belongs to the off-season and February crowds. The weekday effect itself is in crowds by weekday, and the season factor that actually pulls the level down is counted in the quiet season.

• Dick Thomas Johnson / CC BY 2.0❄️[Avoiding crowds] Same winter, but two steps apart!"January and February are quiet" is only half true. January really is quiet; February is the opposite. We tested the Lunar New Year theory and it did not hold.
• Dick Thomas Johnson / CC BY 2.0🍁[Autumn visitors] 105 of the 182 autumn days are quiet — but only through September?105 of the 182 autumn days land below the yearly average. By month, the quiet part stops after September. Counted day by day.
• Dick Thomas Johnson / CC BY 2.0🔺[If your dates can move] 31 of the year's 32 busiest days are in one season?31 of the year's 32 busiest days land inside the busy season. Even so, 53 days inside it come in under the yearly average. Counted across all 296 days.
• Dick Thomas Johnson / CC BY 2.0🎄[Visiting this winter] 8 of the 90 Christmas days come in under the yearly average?Of the 90 days in the Christmas season, 8 sit below the yearly average. The busiest lands on Dec 25 (Sat), the quietest on Nov 23 (Mon).
• Dick Thomas Johnson / CC BY 2.0🧩[Between events] 2 gaps, 16 days — but only 6 of them really empty?We have 3 verified events with 2 gaps between them, 16 days in all. Merchandise and menus for the next one land first, which cuts the gaps to 6 days.
• Dick Thomas Johnson / CC BY 2.0🎏[Golden Week visitors] Is May 5 (Wed) the quietest date in the run?Of the 24 Golden Week days we forecast, 18 land below the yearly average. What lifts the level is how many days off run together, not the name of the holiday.