I don't know anything about the online class so I can't provide an opinion on whether the test dates are important or frivolous.
However, earning how to tell your friends "I can't do anything this week, I have a shitload of homework" and then following through is an important life lesson that you need at some point. I can't tell you how many times I've turned my cell phone off, found a secluded corner in the library, and just buckled down. You'd be surprised how productive you can be if you shut out all distractions and clear your head.
Oh, I can do that. For example: I have a paper due tomorrow that I need to collect the last bit of info for (price comparissons for groceries & gas in two economically different areas) but friends are going out to dinner. What am I doing? I'm leaving work in about 30 minutes to drive around town looking at prices at gas stations and grocery stores then home to put it into the paper and revise the thing.
I'm fine not hanging out with friends if I have homework, what sucks is when I have a test starts tuesday @ 12am ending thursday @ 12am. Tuesday is class then work then college republicans, so basically I'm free after 8pm. So we'll assume I can start the exam at 830ish pm, provided I dont have homework I need to do for the next day.
Now what would be more conveinent would be me taking the exam saturday morning when I have virtually jack shit to do.
I haven't said that it is impossible for me to find time, just rather inconveinent and that I would most likely be more productive if I wasn't stressed about the exam + other things ... which is why I took the course online, because I understood the course structure to be "free"