Anyone else legitimately pulling all-nighters for finals?

[xmrth]

I feel so alone... I talked to classmates today and I feel like everyone else has got it together. But me, I've got so much work due for tomorrow. I have a 6 page paper due and I'm struggling with the first page still. I don't think it's doomed, but it's stressful. The thought of only getting MAYBE as much as 3 hours of sleep scares me. I have had just so much else to do, I did all my research first (which has made it easy in that sense) but the paper part is hard. I also have a painting to finish, a 12 question final for another class requiring a paragraph answer to each, and a paper revision. And that's just what's LEFT for me to do, due tomorrow. I've gotten everything else out of the way.

 

I'm going to be on here typing my paper up and I feel stupid and alone, like this is a huge mistake. It's not encouraging at all. It's making me get nervous and making my mind wander.

 

Anyone else in he same boat this week, or next week? I'm talking like you're not going to get any sleep either. That's what I'm wanting to hear, haha. Somehow knowing that will motivate me. Only one person I know is doing the same thing but they always do that, almost every week, near all nighters, but for a different reason-- they just don't get around to it until then so that's not as encouraging for me to keep on going and NOT get NERVOUS that I won't finish anything.

 

Martha

[rose2summer]

I have done that before during my bachelors and I highly recommend against it.

 

Your body cannot function at it's max when it's sleep deprived.

 

It may be best to go to bed now and rest 4hrs then wake up in the wee hours of the morning all refreshed and have lots of caffeine so you can finish. Trying to stay up right now when you are so stressed out isn't going to help you and if you have caffeine now, you will be up all night and won't concentrate well enough to finish it.

 

Is it 6pages double-spaced, times new roman 12 point font?

 

Have you written an outline so you know what you will write in each paragraph?

[laboheme]

If it makes you feel any better, I almost ended up pulling an all-nighter last night because I had a 20 page paper due today...I also had all my research done (that's the fun part!), but only 12 pages written before yesterday, and writing just doesn't come naturally to me. I'm also going to be up pretty late tonight because I have another 2000-word paper due tomorrow, which I'm writing in iambic pentameter, but it's half-done already, so things aren't too bad. I'll be keeping you company for a while though!

 

Right now I suggest getting ALL distractions out of the way -- TV, music, turn off your Internet access if you have to. I don't know how you work, but I often find it helpful to write things out by hand first, because then I'm forced to write and I'm not staring at the computer screen, stuck in an endless pattern of writing a sentence and then backspacing it letter by letter...

 

Also, it's incredibly important to set goals for the night, since you have so many things to do. Make sure that you have the paper done by midnight, for example...then give yourself an hour in the morning to revise it. It might also help to switch back and forth between the things that you have to do so that you don't get writer's block working on one thing.

 

GOOD LUCK!!!

[xmrth]

That's also what's making me nervous is not being able to function properly. This actually happened last semester for an art history course (what this particular paper is for) and I got 45 minutes of sleep! However, I had so much caffeine that I laid in bed awake, not so much that I was working. I will probably work until 12, and see if I can sleep. But I have to set the goal to finish it. I will never do this again... I've never saved a paper until the night before, especially a longer one than what I'm used to.

 

I have a general outline, but now that I'm getting down to it, it's hard to tie it all in together.

 

My distractions are definitely the internet (however this is mainly to help me ease my nerves because I've put myself into the situation to get worried!) I may even do that, and write it all out by hand. Typing really makes me see how much more space I've got left to fill and it's intimidating.

 

And yes, double spaced and size 12, however it's being measured more by words than by pages... which makes it hard. But hopefully it won't look too different.

[rose2summer]

Try not to stress out about it, it's definitely feasible.

 

I am going to tell you my bad habits that I have since broken.

 

One year during school, I used to write my papers the day they were due, because I loved the thrill of procrastination, I am one of those who loves stress, why, I do not know. Those were some of my best papers .

 

Anyhow, I would wake up super early, have a cup of coffee and stay pryed to my computer for 6-10hrs until the paper was done.

 

To make it easier to see the progress of your paper, word has a function where you can put 2 pages onto one, and that helped me so much because I could see like 10 paragraphs at 1 time, and know exactly how they fit into each other, and that was my secret to writing good papers. I wrote about 1 page/30min because of that function word has. It's on the top toolbar if you want to try it, where it has the percent, and you can choose two pages. It made my thoughts very organized to see all the paragraphs at once.

[HellFrost666]

I did the allnighter thing all through college. Not every night, but often enough.

[CarnelianButterfly]

I spent my senior year in a perpetual state of tired. I don't know how many nights I was up. I went 2 nights without sleep, after a point I stopped being tired. Coffee, good food, and cold showers.

[Weeblie]

I think some people are better at the all-nighter thing. I couldn't do it. I love sleep too much.

 

I know a woman who had this special order of doing things. She'd stay up as long as she could without any caffeine. All she'd drink was water. Then when she couldn't stay up anymore she'd start drinking a little coffee.

I swear she wasn't human. Or she must've had some crack in there too.

[dawn515]

Don't feel bad. I'm in the same boat as you right now. I have a huge final tomorrow that I'm going to be studying for all night (so what am I doing here, right? ) and a paper due on Thursday that, yep, I haven't written.

 

Of course, I don't recommend this method either, but I've been stupid enough in the past to cram everything in at the last minute and still did well. Just make sure you get enough sleep to function before your test!

[xmrth]

Thank you so much for responses! Part of feeling alone makes me feel like it's IMPOSSIBLE. But feeling like I'm not alone makes me feel less stressed and more like it's possible to do.

 

I don't have the right programs on my computer to do footnotes and double spacing, so I loaded my paper so far onto another computer in the house with the program. I'm going to do that with the pages, rose2summer! That is a good suggestion.

 

I'm going to go get into a zone with my paper and just type it all out and go back in and use sources and specifics.

 

Thanks so much again. It's always so relieving to talk about it with people who have been there.

[rose2summer]

Something I would do for sources and references was I put a post it on each book, labeling them A, B, C...

 

So when I cited a book, I would write a little A in the typed text.

 

The reason for this is the citations need to be in order by the authors last name, so I could order them all, then actually put in a number 1,2,3... if that makes sense, it saved me soooo much time and I did it all through school.

[RayKay]

I am writing 7 exams in the span of 10 days (and the one today was BRUTAL), and of course add on working and training...so yeah, I am tired...but I do make sure to get good sleep as your brain DOES function better on sleep!

 

I tend not to save it all to last minute though; as I am someone whom learns more by adding info over time, rather than last minute. Cramming at last minute does not do much for my retention. And papers I tend to try and start in advance so it's not last minute rush either, but I still get stressed, and worry about knowing what I need to know, and having time, and so do tend to have later nights. During the year as well due to my courseload/workload I have a lot of late late nights reading after I am done work, and early mornings...so I know how you feel when you get sleep deprived!

[lessy20]

I pull all nighters quite often. Last year during exams I stayed up for 42 hours straight and no kidding started seeing things! I don't really recommend it (at least not 42 hours) but if it's essential that you do, at least try to sleep for like an hour, as a bit of a break, it helps!

[Mrs Elliott Smith]

Well, no offense, but when you procrastinate, things always get worse.

 

Last weekend I spent hours writing a (what would in the end become) a 22- page paper for graduate school. I was literally stuck to my computer from Friday evening until Sunday night. At that same time, I had another assignment due for another class. It was crazy, and I know the stress you're feeling.

 

Just do what you gotta do, you'll finish everything. This won't last forever. Next time, get started with studying and writing papers a few days in advance. You need to practice self-discipline (e.g. start on an assignment, or start studying enough time in advance so that you're not left with everything in the end).

[annie24]

Yeah, I did a lot of all nighters. I study better late at night, rather than getting crappy sleep for 4 hours, and then trying to wake up. my mind is so groggy I am not functional.

 

good luck!

[annie24]

Something I would do for sources and references was I put a post it on each book, labeling them A, B, C...

 

So when I cited a book, I would write a little A in the typed text.

 

The reason for this is the citations need to be in order by the authors last name, so I could order them all, then actually put in a number 1,2,3... if that makes sense, it saved me soooo much time and I did it all through school.

 

or you can get EndNote

[Cadence308]

Throughout my education I have pulled MANY late nights, but only a few all nighters. I function best with at least a few hours of sleep. Pulling all nighters with no sleep just made me so tired and I always felt hung over. If worst comes to worst at least try to get 2 hours of sleep.

 

I had to work late tonight. But, I'm working on a group presentation (all the research is pretty much finished) and we started organizing the presentation this past weekend, so I think we'll be okay. However, I still have a 5 page paper and another presentation due on Thursday. Writing comes naturally to me. I'll probably crank out a rough draft of it in the morning to early afternoon and then write the presentation based on the paper on Wed. morning.

 

Finals suck! The best thing to do is to learn from procrastination. I learn and retain information better when I study a little every day, which is hard with classes, internship, and work, but it really pays off.

[cichlid]

Hahaha...when I talk to people I act as if I have it "all together". But in actual fact I am sick and tired and just want school to be over. I am worn out...I have plenty of time to study and all that but I have been doing the studying for finals for the past week and a half-ish. I had two huge finals last week so that's where that came in. Been studying since Friday for a test on Wednesday. It's a final in Design of Experiments and I will be excited to get an A, pleased to get a B and won't complain about a C. It's one of the worst classes I have ever taken. The teacher has gotten the Grim Reaper Award (hard teacher) and the Bloody Paper Award (picky grader...just gives everyone a bad grade!) for a long time. She just keeps getting them every year and I think she's proud of that. Freshman year people told me never to take her, but I had to sinec she was the only one teaching the course and I couldn't fall another year behind. But yeah...life will be great in 24 hours!!!

 

But after her test I have to start studying for linear algebra. Pretty easy course but I don't understand linear transformations that well. Everything else I understand perfectly...it's just all that similar matrices junk.

 

I wish I could have all my exams at once instead of this long drawn out stuff...I have little to no motivation left. I think I will have a burst of motivation after my exam tomorrow. I think I will go cheering outside after it is all over because her class will be finally over. I think I will get all A's but that one Design of Experiments course.

 

But one more week...and it will be all over. I can't wait! I have two things planned for the break. I'm getting my rook pierced this Saturday as a reward for surviving finals (I only have one hole in each lobe...that's it for piercings. I just fell in love with the rook after seeing it on my sociology professor this past semester). Then I will be going to a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert over Christmas break.

[rocio]

All-nighters can be a great way to get work done - like assignments and papers. They are a bad idea around exam time, because they will mess with your brain and its ability to function.

 

But you didn't post on here to be lectured.

 

There was this one class that I was doing poorly in. I got 67% on the midterm. The whole class had bombed the midterm, so the professor told us to go home and study harder, and the next class we had basically an identical midterm. This time I got 65%. I didn't understand anything. So final exam time rolls around, and I study reasonably well, but I know full well that I'm still gonna get a low mark in the end. So, the night before the exam, I stay up all night at Tim Hortons and I drill and drill and learn that stuff like there's no tomorrow. Not only did I get 100%, but the professor said that was the most unbeleivable exam he's ever marked. I finished it in about 20 minutes (instead of 3 hours), and whenever the professor would run into me, even 2 or 3 years later, he would say "I don't remember your name, but I will never forget that exam you wrote".

 

So even though all-nighters aren't the best way to get things done, you can still kick some university butt! Go get 'em tiger!

[xmrth]

Thanks very much for all the replies about your own experiences! It gave me so much confidence to finish up my big paper-- and I did around only 1:30 that morning because I could finally calm myself down knowing it wasn't completely impossible!

 

Now my semester is over and I have all kinds of nice free time. I'm very excited.

[annie24]

Congrats! enjoy your vacation!

[Cadence308]

Congrats! Do something fun and for youself. I am UP LATE working on my presentation that is due tomorrow with the paper. I know I will get an A on it all because these things come easily to me. If it were math, that's another story!