Need to pull an all nighter.

[fuzzybabybunny]

I've had bad experience with caffeine in the past. I never drink coffee or anything with a lot of caffeine, and when I do I actually get really really tired and fall asleep.

And if I don't fall asleep, I start to feel the blood throb in my head and I still end up feeling tired after a while, only this time I can't fall asleep due to the caffeine AND my mind doesn't function due to being tired.

It's one of those rote memorization tests for a quality management class. The teacher said he won't give points for synonyms... Plus I think there will be lots of lists, which screw me over all the time because the list items are sometimes so obvious + many of the list items can be combined into one thing... grrrr...

 

[RichUK]

Sugar cubes.

 

[Idontcare]

Hmmm...too bad you were only given 24hrs advance notice of this exam thereby forcing you to have no choice but pull an all-nighter then. I sure hate it when that happens, don't get any time to plan ahead for a known exam date and study for it instead of staying up studying the night before. Bummer. Bad teacher.

 

[Ns1]

pull an all nighter the night before. crash early. wake up at midnight and stay up. if it's tomorrow, then you're gonna need unnatural means.

 

[NanoStuff]

Always good to keep a bit of modafinil around for such occasions.

 

[SSP]

The only advice I can give you is... study a week before the test.


Hope that helped!

 

[nonameo]

hmm... mints are usually stimulants in some way or another. Maybe try something minty?

 

[Dirigible]

You wiped out my only suggestion with your "no caffeine" stipulation. I don't often pull all nighters anymore, but when I do I require regular application of large quantities of caffeine.

 

[EvilYoda]

Caffeine doesn't really do anything to me...acid has been one of the few drugs that have kept me up, but that's probably not a solution for you (or is it...)

I found that when cramming, scheduled naps worked better than trying to pound through the material. Start around noon, eat a quick dinner, nap for 30 minutes, study til midnight, midnight snack & nap then it's the last leg of the race...just stay awake til the exam (assuming it's a morning exam) which won't be hard since you'll be too nervous anyway.

 

[Mr Incognito]

Is it really that hard to stay up all night one night?

 

[tfinch2]

All nighters are overrated.

 

[kalrith]

When you start to get tired, get up and take a walk, jog, do push-ups, or something like that. That will get the blood pumping and tell your body (and mind) that it needs to stay awake. Caffeine used to work great, but now that I drink almost nothing but coffee, it doesn't really help me with all-nighters. I don't recommend studying for several hours straight through. Studies have shown that studying for 15-30 minutes (I can't remember the exact number) at a time and then taking a 5-minute break will help you to retain more information. Once all that fails and my mind no longer functions, I set my cell-phone alarm for 30 minutes, place it on the other side of the room, and take a nap. I also recommend setting an alarm before you get really sleepy, so you won't accidentally fall asleep for several hours. I accidentally slept for 4-5 hours the night before a 30-page paper was due. That REALLY sucked!

 

[Dirigible]

Originally posted by: Mr Incognito
Is it really that hard to stay up all night one night?

It is for me. While trying to stay up all night a couple months ago I fell asleep while riding a bicycle.

For the record, I don't recommend falling asleep while riding a bicycle.

 

[imported_Imp]

All nighters are crap. Just cram and sleep. Every all nighter I have pulled has proved useless cause by the time I write the test, it's so quiet and I'm so tired, running on adrenaline, I forget everything anyways. Doing work is even worse as it once took me 5 hours to write one line of code with an all-nighter.

 

[E equals MC2]

All-nighters are stupid.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Mr Incognito
Is it really that hard to stay up all night one night?

For some people, yes. I start to get a bit, well, stupid, after being awake for more than 18 hours. After 20, I am rather useless. I find that I can just stare at things blankly without realizing it. The littlest things become hilarious. Sleep deprivation like that is the closest to drunk I've ever been. My short term memory also deteriorates.
For studying, like this memorization test, I'd probably be able to read a list of the same 10 words and not catch on that they were the same words until several times through. Then I'd start laughing at that fact.

And then, if I'm not reasonably awake for a test, I'm really screwed. Quick, 14x73! Um, ok, 4*3 = 12. Carry the 1.....wait, what am I doing? Area of a rectangle? I don't remember that formula........dammit I'm screwed.

I'm with Idontcare on this one. Memorization tests aren't something you put off.

For my CalcI class, we needed to memorize various tables of integration and differentiation; CalcII, there were methods of solving some other kind of equation, or some kind of test (root test is a term that comes to mind). I hung these sheets on the wall next to my bed so I could look at them constantly, every day of the semester. It helped. But then, I was probably one of the only people on campus with calculus equations hung on my walls.

 

[ponyo]

Don't pull an all nighter. It's a waste of time and drain on your body. Just look over the material once before you sleep and you'll memorize it while you sleep. Wake up early and look over the material once more and then take the test.

It's just a test. Even if you do bad, it's just a grade. Years later you'll look back at your college years and laugh how foolish you were staying up all night for a test.

 

[sjwaste]

Originally posted by: NanoStuff
Always good to keep a bit of modafinil around for such occasions.

Haha, have they busted all the online pharmacies selling that w/o a prescription? I remember folks at college buying tons of that stuff.

I'm pretty sensitive to stimulants, so sadly, I never tried. Also I like to sleep. A lot.

 

[TallBill]

All nighters are terrible. If you absolutely MUST pull one, then naps are recommended. If you're already past your normal bed time, then it's to late for naps.

 

[FoBoT]

just go to sleep :moon:

 

[NanoStuff]

Originally posted by: sjwaste

Originally posted by: NanoStuff
Always good to keep a bit of modafinil around for such occasions.

Haha, have they busted all the online pharmacies selling that w/o a prescription? I remember folks at college buying tons of that stuff.

They probably weren't buying it to stay up cramming. It's a mood altering and concentration drug which is useful during the day too. It's not hard at all to buy it online.

 

[RaistlinZ]

Just study til like 3am, get 4-5 hours of sleep, refresh on the main stuff when you wake up, and go take the test. You probably aren't going to retain much useful information between the hours of 4am-8am anyway. Just get some rest.