DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Finals Week!

Well well well, this week for most colleges is the dreaded finals. You work your ass off for the whole quarter, do it at midterms, and do it again!

This is one of the worst times to be a college student, if anyone has been to college they know what I'm talkin' about. You have a ton of classes you have to study for and you most likely resort to staying up all night drinking a mix of Red Bull, Monster, and Coke. And man I know it gets pretty tough, so here's a little guide I found for doing successfull all-nighters.

How to pull an all-nighter
Posted April 4 in Life.
If you are thinking about studying electrical engineering at Cornell (I doubt anyone is still reading) then this tutorial is for you. I happen to have a lot of experience in the area of sleep-deprivation, and I’d like to share my techniques. We must first, however, define the term. An all-nighter, at least in my book, is any night where the sun comes up before you go to sleep. If the sun comes up at 6:30 am and you go to sleep at 7:30 am, then that’s an all-nighter. It’s also very unsettling.

The first step to pulling a successful all-nighter is motivation. There are lots of reasons why you could pull one, but I think the best is homework. There are those nights when you realize you have a boatload of homework due the following morning and there is no way you can waste time sleeping. When one of those nights comes along, you’re set. Light the midnight candle.

Here is what you need to do to stay awake:

Drink coffee/tea/etc. Not too much that you end up shaking. Just enough to keep awake. Caffeine makes your heart beat faster, which keeps you going. (Update 4-8 at 5 pm: Arash explained the real effect caffeine has on you. He says, “What really happens is the caffein goes straight to your brain and attaches itself to nerve endings blocking your body’s naturally occuring adenosine chemical from being able to attach to those same nerve endings. Your body releases more adenosine, starts to panic because it’s not having any affect, and adrenaline is released in small amounts as a defense mechanism which increases your heart rate.” Thanks Arash!) It also helps to have a drink you like. Treat yourself while you’re torturing yourself. I prefer green tea with a dash (tablespoons) of sugar or a canned Starbucks Doubleshot.
Eat a meal. You have to realize that you are extending your day to be about 50% longer. If you are on a 3 meal diet, an all-nighter calls for at least one more meal. I find 3 am is a good time to eat. It’s also important not to eat fatty foods that will make you sleepy. No one wants to jeopardize their all-nighter with a sudden food coma. Foods with carbs, such as cereal or pasta, give you energy to keep going, and will help to reduce any nausea from sleep-deprivation.
Shower. Washing your face is good too. Cold water will refresh you. It also helps to stay clean.
Listen to music. None of that wishy-washy classical stuff. Loud music. Music with beats and bass and blaring riffs. I usually go for some mentally stimulating techno or drum-n-bass.
If you can afford to, take breaks. I find 30 minutes of playing videogames that involve lots of action and violence to be especially effective at refreshing my batteries between hours of boring, monotonous homework.
As a last resort, get up and walk around. Walking gets your blood flowing. If you are in your dorm and you are about to pass out on your desk, walk around the hallway. It also helps you think, in case your mind is about to explode.
All of these things are extremely helpful when you start to feel drowsy, and the key to making them work is to spread out the various techniques over the course of the night (unless multiple showers sounds like a good idea to you).

There are also things you should definitely not do, if you want to see the sunrise:

Don’t lie down. Don’t say you are just going to “put your head down for a second m’kay” because when you look up again it will be the next day. Your homework will most likely be covered in drool too. The point is to keep moving.
As I said before, don’t eat fatty food. A hamburger and french fries are not power food.
Don’t turn the lights out. Any reminders that it’s nighttime and you should be sleeping are bad. Shine a flashlight in your eyes if you need to.
And last but not least, don’t be a wimp. You have to be hardcore. You want that all-nighter. You need that all-nighter. You will get that all-nighter, and then you will tear a phonebook apart with your teeth.
Okay, success! So what now?
So let’s say you’ve finished your all-nighter, and it’s the morning after. It’s time to greet the new day with a big smile and say, “hey, all you happy, well-rested wimps. I didn’t sleep at all, and I’m okay with that.” Go forward with confidence, remember to take your homework with you, and by all means, catch some sleep in class. You’ll be glad you did.

But my key is to do so well during the quarter I have some leeway at the end to play with, that's the right way to do it.

And on a side note, I just took my math final a couple of hours ago. Everything was going as planned while taking my exam for my online class when the computer at the college locked up. Now I've emailed and called the instructor and still have not gotten a response, today is the last day to take it too. FINALS

Does anyone else have any crazy stories about finals week that they want to share?

I once wrote a 12-page paper on Akira Kurosawa in 27 straight hours. It was ridiculous, No breaks, except to use more meth, and I just wrote for over a day. After that I went to class, turned it in and left, b/c I was a such a mess.

That was a couple years ago, nowadays I just prep early so I am not up against the wall at the end of the quarter.

That sounds absolutely crazy. I had to look up the name "Akira Kurosawa" because I didn't know who he was, but now I do

Speaking of papers, I just had to write a 10 page on how illegal immigration is effecting the economy, education, welfare, crime, and health crisis in the U.S, also had to incorporate The Staute of Frauds.

I'll be glad when this is over so I can relax and go bowling or something, just chill out you know.

I took my Statistics II final on various "substances". I didn't plan on it that way. All my buddies were done for the week and started having a party. They talked me into one beer to relax my nerves. Then another. Then another. Then some green material. Then a shot. Next thing I know, I'm that guy at the party. You know, the one with his pants down and a lamp shade on his head.

I don't remember taking the final at all (not just after all these years, I'm talking the next day).

I figure I flunked the final and lowered my solid B that I had up until then. I was worried I would get a C (since that was one of the 2 classes I was actually doing well in). Then I get my grades........I ended with a B+ in the class. That means I got at least a high B+ or A- on the final to raise my overall grade.

That's my favorite college story.

I graduated in december with a BS in Microbiology....boy the last few quarters were NOT fun...i had my fair share of over nighters over the years cuz i was also doing business minor and was pre pharm..*sigh* i will never miss finals week....it's hands down the worst...there is a reason why college students have named the week and the week before sometimes "hell week" or "death week" etc...

I do not attend classes in the morning and my finals are submitted online so I havent had to pull an all nighter yet. I have done a few all dayers though on a Sunday when my final as due by Midnight and I hadnt even started on it. Start as soon as I get up in AM and just sit there in a chair all day with my laptop going.

KING

I bet I would have liked having a laptop in college (not that they weren't available, just not very good and too much money). And being able to take online exams......awesome.

Even though I'm not too old, it sounds like it from the above statement.

"When I was a kid, I had to walk four miles to school and it was uphill both ways." Something my dad would say.

Quote:

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It was ridiculous, No breaks, except to use more meth

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I bet your mom is very proud.

Yeah online classes are ok, but you dont have help at all with them so it can be quite bad. After this little inncindent took place today with my online test I vow never to use one of their computers again. Man, this is really messing up my day, I was supposed to be done at 12:00.

You guys better all watch out, Fletch should be in soon to scorn you all for not graduating in 6 months. Now go study.

Go drink your cherry coke rowdy

Well I figure this is as good a thread as any to get my first post in (not to mention fitting)...

First off I believe hello would be appropriate - so...hello!

It threw me for a minute to see the words "college" and "finals" being put together in March - but then I caught the bit about quarters and it made sense.I'm a senior at BW and luckily I don't have to think about finals for another 6 weeks.Then again,I've also got a bad case of senioritis (even though I don't graduate until December) so who knows how I'll feel about that 6 weeks from now.

As for all nighters...I can't say much about that area.The closest I came to an all nighter was last semester when I was writing my literature review for my research methods class.I think I finished around 4am (give or take).Although with the workload I have this semester I might be pulling one (or come awful close to pulling one) in the next few weeks when due dates for projects start rolling around.

And I think I'm done rambling.I just felt the need to chime in with my 2 cents about a college-related topic.

I'm on semesters so I don't have to worry about finals yet (thank God), but I did have to take one last week in a accelerated 8 week class and I did real well, got a B in the class b/c I misread a due date and turned in some incomplete work.

I was dumb and took 18 credit hours while working full-time so I have had no choice but to pull some all-nighters. For homework or projects it's not so bad. I have learned to keep active and play a lil X-box 360 as a study break to keep my mind active and laying down or closing my eyes for a minute means I will crash and burn

For tests it's nothing but bad. The morning of the test I am either dead tired, or feel weird from lack of sleep and so much coffee I can't think sharp at all and do poor. I try to study any spare time or stay up very late earlier in the week and use the night before as a review. I get at least 5 hours of sleep and wake up a little earlier, eat a good breakfast and just review. This works very well for me.

I take some classes online too b/c it's impossible for me to work my hours and go to school. Online classes are convenient but in no way easier. Theres a lot more reading and the tests are all timed just like in regular classes. The lectures are all powerpoint or documents so you can't hear any explanations. It's actually harder in a way.

Just wanted to throw this out there...

We talk about performance enhancing drugs in sports...

Well, those who take Adderol who aren't prescribed it are able to concentrate and focus on their studies better...right?

Sooo...does that mean those who take Adderol have an unfair competitive advantage? As someone who doesn't take it and gets distracted easily when studying, it kinda bugs me.

So that means the users of this performance enhancer unfairly affected the grading curve on a lot of exams? My GPA would be a lot higher if it wasn't for those cheaters!

I bet the next thing they say is that there are reports some students video taped the professor while he was designing his exam.

I am so Happy!!!!!!! , I thought I didn't do so well on my math final, but I got a 91, which brings my overall grade to a 93. Don't know why I'm sharing this, it just really means a lot to me, I guess because I failed the class before.

So my math final was down, after my HUGE problem with my Business Legal class I finally took my final. Well, I did bad but my overall grade turned out to be a 78. I think I will take it considering the book was over 1200 pages long and was a pain in the ass. Mentioning 1200 pages, they really need to stop making books that big because peoples backs are starting to hurt.

Phhheeewwww, did ok on the first two exams and have one left, I can just feel the weight being lifted off my shoulders.