About to pull an all- nighter, need tips

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flsh

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I have a history exam tomorrow and I have a lot of studying to do. I need tips to stay awake. I drink (a lot of) coffee, anything else?
How about snacks?
 
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:)
 
1) Don't do it. If you are exhausted, your studying won't stick, and you WILL perform badly on the test. Get as much studying done as you can...but when you hit the wall, go to sleep.

2) Don't let yourself get in that situation again.
 
I'm fully awake right now, it's the studying that makes me sleepy :lol
I know all of it I just want to repeat it to get a good grade and there's a lot of reading :(
 
Ephedrine works.. if you can pick some up at your local pharmacy. Good energy boost.
 
Sapienshomo said:
Used by perverted doctors: Masturbate to the point before ejaculation and then stop.
:lol I will try this!
I'm really hyperactive right now after so much coffee :lol I don't think I'll ever sleep again :p
 
I wouldn't advise pulling an allnighter, but hey, some guys can do it regularly with ease.

If you plan on getting very little sleep (say 2-3 hours) to study, here's what I always do. Instead of studying late into the night and then going to sleep, I always sleep at around midnight, get the 2-3 hours of sleep, and then continue studying until the test. This way I don't get exhausted, and I retain the knowledge in my short term memory much better.
 
Desperado had some good advice. :lol I have to pull all-nighters all the time because I have odd sleeping habits and what always messes me up is when I lay down for a minute. It's like "I'm just resting my eyes.. yep.." and I'm gone. Lol.
 
-jinx- said:
1) Don't do it. If you are exhausted, your studying won't stick, and you WILL perform badly on the test. Get as much studying done as you can...but when you hit the wall, go to sleep.

2) Don't let yourself get in that situation again.

This man speaks the truth. I've pulled exactly one all nighter and did not do well on the test at all even though I felt I knew my material going in. Other times I have crammed and just said fuck it and fell asleep, did a lot better. I pride myself on my memory and ability to learn quickly, but it's just damned impossible to try and retain as much info as you will need for a test (college level) going in blank. Just try to study enough to get you at least close to passing.
 
unless you're completely unprepared, the rest you'd get would probably be more beneficial than the extra studying.

...otherwise just get some sort of amphetamines
 
During my third semester of college I was doing one or two all-nighters a week, and it was my best semester for grades and had some of my toughest classes. To help me through it I'd drink a lot of caffeine from sodas and often times Red Bull. Keep bright lights on and I found keeping the room cool if not cold helped.

That said, I don't recommend it at all. All that caffeine would wreck my system. I'd end up having to piss constantly, and now a mere year and a half later even a can of Coke or any caffeine seems to send my metabolism into overdrive. It's also become nearly impossible for me to pull all-nighter at all, let alone consistently.

Of course, you don't have to make it a habit, but I found that once you realize it can be an effective way of gaining time before exams or due dates, you tend to do it again. Stupid move.
 
I agree. Unless you're completely unprepared rest would be more beneficial than an all-nighter. Because after about 3am or so all the facts start melding together. Practicing something though is something different. That being said what I do when I have to stay up late I brush my teeth really vigorously for about 5 minutes, then down a huge glass of Orange Juice as fast as I can. That little trick got me past 4 years of not looking at a group piece seriously until the day of.

You'll have to tell us how you did tomorrow.
 
SLEEP. Do the stuff in the morning and have a nice breakfast. Its tooo late to really learn major new stuff so just shortcut some stuff. Go over afew printouts of what will show up in the exam in the morning. Good luck. If you have access to online revision do them and learn from your mistakes. You might just get lucky.

I've done many all nighters some unneeded but not for exams. It just wont help much. You need to be active and thinking clearly in one.
 
Thanks for all the tips :P
Is drinking a lot of coffee dangerous? I'm REALLY awake (I slept all after noon) and I drink a lot of coffe and I eat every hour- 2 hours. I'm just afraid I'll have to go to the hospital or something :lol

This is the last all nighter I'm going to do, it's just that this is an important test and I really want to feel ready.

BTW, I can't get Retalin (sp?).Iit's illegal here to sell it if you don't get a doctor to sign it to you :\
 
-jinx- said:
1) Don't do it. If you are exhausted, your studying won't stick, and you WILL perform badly on the test. Get as much studying done as you can...but when you hit the wall, go to sleep.

2) Don't let yourself get in that situation again.

Listen to jinx. he knows whats up. Sleep is essential.
 
flsh said:
Thanks for all the tips :P
Is drinking a lot of coffee dangerous? I'm REALLY awake (I slept all after noon) and I drink a lot of coffe and I eat every hour- 2 hours. I'm just afraid I'll have to go to the hospital or something :lol

This is the last all nighter I'm going to do, it's just that this is an important test and I really want to feel ready.

BTW, I can't get Retalin (sp?).Iit's illegal here to sell it if you don't get a doctor to sign it to you :\

Ritalin can be counterproductive. With coffee you;ll be exhausted once the exam comes. Plus you dont know anything which isnt a good state to be in. :lol
 
Red Bull is better than tons of coffee, in terms of keeping you plenty alert without running to the bathroom every five minutes.
 
Modafinil, aka Provigil. It stimulates the same parts of the brain as amphetamines without the high, and it lasts longer. Off of a safe dose, one could stay awake for over 90 hours.

Oddly enough, it's prescribed often for both insomnia and hypersomnia. Although it gives you the capacity to stay awake for long periods of time, it apparently makes it easier to go to sleep when you actually want to.

It's legal to prescribe in the US for the next 10 years or so. The FDA keeps a close eye on it. It's one of those too good to be true things.
 
I have pulled *numerous* all nighters before exams with very few ill effects and good marks - however, I have a bit of a photographic memory. I will say though that you *will* remember things better if you sleep at least 3 hours. Sleep is required for solid, long term memory retention. There are actual chemical processes that take place during sleep for memory. Sort of like transferring data from a hard drive to tape.

Caffeine doesn't really work for me, don't know why.

Anyway, if you are intent on pulling an all nighter, what I find works well is when you feel the tiredness coming on, get up, walk around, go outside.

Next time it comes on, have a snack - nothing too sugary as that will spike your blood sugar for a little while.

Now, your last resort (at least it is for me :lol) is to go and brush your teeth, take a quick shower and have breakfast (if you have time). For me, this gets my body into "time to go to work/school/out in the morning mode".

Good luck on your exam.
 
Seriously, why don't you just cheat? You have a better chance of doing well by cheating than you do by pulling an all nighter. Especially if you're dodgy on the subject to begin with. If you aren't so bad in history and just need to cover a shit-load of material go ahead and pull an all nighter and right before the test drink a RedBull or something to keep you alert during the test.
 
I stay up all night constantly, I don't attend college so I don't have to worry about exams, so..

I just play games and browse teh intarweb. My sleep schedule is fucked btw
 
66.7%? :D That's pretty good considering my avarage in history (thanks to my stupid teacher) is 62% :lol Thats an improvment. I'm almost done and it's 4:37 here right now. I'm still fully awake and I don't think I'm going to sleep for a long time :)
I have a photographic memory, it's just my teacher hates it when I use notes that arn't her's and her's suck. I just rewrite her's so they'll be good and read them, memorize them. Well, 11 more days and I'll NEVER see history again :D
 
flsh said:
66.7%? :D That's pretty good considering my avarage in history (thanks to my stupid teacher) is 62% :lol Thats an improvment. I'm almost done and it's 4:37 here right now. I'm still fully awake and I don't think I'm going to sleep for a long time :)
I have a photographic memory, it's just my teacher hates it when I use notes that arn't her's and her's suck. I just rewrite her's so they'll be good and read them, memorize them. Well, 11 more days and I'll NEVER see history again :D

Well...given the fact that you're still on the forum takes you down another 10 percent...
 
White Man said:
Modafinil, aka Provigil. It stimulates the same parts of the brain as amphetamines without the high, and it lasts longer. Off of a safe dose, one could stay awake for over 90 hours.

Oddly enough, it's prescribed often for both insomnia and hypersomnia. Although it gives you the capacity to stay awake for long periods of time, it apparently makes it easier to go to sleep when you actually want to.

It's legal to prescribe in the US for the next 10 years or so. The FDA keeps a close eye on it. It's one of those too good to be true things.

I've tried it several times and works everytime. I don't get jitters or feel as hyperactive like with caffeine. I can even concentrate on tasks very well with this drug. I don't take it too often due to the fact that it lowers my tolerance to general anxiety but if you want to perfect stay awake drug this is it.
 
demi said:
I stay up all night constantly, I don't attend college so I don't have to worry about exams, so..

I just play games and browse teh intarweb. My sleep schedule is fucked btw

I WANT THAT
 
silver said:
Pulling all-nighters will give you diarrhea, too. Your body needs the rest.

I don't get the runs, but whenever I lose a significant amount of sleep, my stomach hurts all day the next day. Always has for some reason.
 
Vandiger said:
I've tried it several times and works everytime. I don't get jitters or feel as hyperactive like with caffeine. I can even concentrate on tasks very well with this drug. I don't take it too often due to the fact that it lowers my tolerance to general anxiety but if you want to perfect stay awake drug this is it.

It really is just like being normally awake.

If anyone wants a prescription, it's pretty easy to BS your doctor into giving you one. It's regarded as pretty harless. Just don't blame me when you come down with super AIDS.
 
yoshifumi said:
that ruins the whole point of suggesting stimulants

The ideal stimulant is one that keeps you alert and at full, normal mental capacity. Amphetamines keep you more than alert, but they're definitely not good for as far as mental capabilities go.

About a year ago, DARPA was putting a lot of money into researching this sort of thing. They were hiring people to undergo testing of staying up for upwards of a full week without any food, just water. I wonder what happened with that.

EDIT: It's sort of a holy grail, overcoming the ability to sleep.

EDIT 2: http://www.darpa.mil/dso/thrust/biosci/cap.htm

Not the exact program I remember, but an example. I'm about to be occupied, or else I'd find the one I was thinking about.

http://www.cortexpharm.com/html/news/04/06-08-04.html

http://www.sleepnet.com/tech7/messages/625.html
 
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