Many schools and students are coming upon class finals in the next few weeks before the long-awaited and much needed week of Spring Break. Students are slammed with studying for tests, writing papers and finishing up assignments in order to get the best possible grade. Many students (including myself) often wait until the last possible moment to do these assigned tasks, crunching information and work sometimes into the night before things are due.
At times, the work load is so high (or the procrastination so great) that an ALL-NIGHTER is needed. All-Nighters take great skill and can be epic moments in the life of a student, or a wasteland of tragedy, resulting in an exhausted student that falls asleep, coffee spilled and in the hair, and misses the test they spent all night studying for.
So here are some tips for those of you that have to pull an all-nighter, either for school or for work. Steps to ensure that your all-night experience is a fun and productive experience:
Step 1: Avoid All-Nighters by getting your work done early instead of waiting until the night before:
a. As fun and cool as an All-Nighter sounds, it will leave you tired and reeling to recover for the next week or weeks.
Step 2: If an All-Nighter is iminent, get prepared by…
a. Laying out the tasks you need to accomplish:
*Being prepared before starting is key to success
b. Find someone else who has to pull an All-Nighter and unite:
*Having an All-Nighter buddy is imperative to keeping you working through the night and helping you study and retain information.
Step 3: During the All-Nighter, make sure you…
a. DO NOT DRINK COFFEE OR ROCKSTARS OR POP:
*Caffeine will keep your energy up for a little while, but will lead to a crash, making it difficult for you to continue for long periods of time. Drink lots of water instead, and eat light snacks every two hours.
b. Take Regular Breaks:
*You will be more effective over a long period of time if you take a 5 minute break every hour, rather than working for three hours and taking a 30 minute break. Taking a 5 minute break keeps you from having the desire to lay down on the bed and ‘take a nap’ resulting in the destruction of the All-Nighter plan.
c. Location, Location, Location:
*DO NOT PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER IN YOUR DORM OR BEDROOM. By 4:00am the urge to sleep will be strong and the bed will begin to call to you like a Siren of the sea. Resisting the temptation to sleep is imperative, therefore, remove the temptation from your location. Pull an all-nighter where the chairs are uncomfortable or where there is activity. Libraries and cafeterias are often open long hours during final’s weeks and are great places to study all-night.
Step 4: Don’t sleep through the test you’ve been studying for all night…
a. Make sure you set three or four alarm clocks to alert you of the upcoming test so that you don’t miss the very event for which the All-Nighter was needed.
These tips are helpful tools to help make your All-Nighter experience successful and potentially even enjoyable. Let us know about some of your all-night experiences in the comment section below. Happy studying!!!