Busy Schedules

I've been thinking, how does a busy schedule affect my workout?
For one, it's quite apparent that people don't workout very much during exam periods (i.e. a busy schedule) but is a few days or a week off such a big deal? or even a bad thing in that case?

I remember about a year ago I read (and experimented) that by having a full weeks break after a good workout you go back to the gym stronger simply because you've been able to rest. Granted that was before I figured out my current cycle.

I must explain before I forget, Although I was completely engrossed by the amount of required study I still managed to pull time out for the gym, mainly because I'm about an eight minute drive from the darn place and I've seemed to have tuned my brain to wake up as though I were racing the sun to rise. I know this because I sleep facing sun rise. Derek 1. Sun 0.

So should I be taking a longer break than a day or two? I recall I seem to be getting stronger but at a slower rate -which I'm quite fine with but who doesn't want to improve at their peak rate?