Support NeoGAF

[The Shadow]

Last Monday I had a written assignment due and I did it the night before. The assignment was in our class syllabus and we knew about the written assignment since the beginning of the semester. Just last month the teacher told us that the deadline was close and that if we hadn't started yet, we were already running late. I didn't even have my topics picked at the time.

Just today I was told what my score was. A 98 out of 100. Don't know how that happened but there it is. I know some people who prepared weeks, months before I did and scored less. I didn't rub it in their face because I'm still shameful of my procrastination but hell, how am I ever going to stop if it never really adversely affects me?

Anyone have a procrastination success story they'd like to share?

 

[Alucard]

I have many procrastination success stories...I guess my favourite would be my grade 10 major English assignment. Totally waited until the night before, started it at around 8pm, and ended up with 95% on it. Again, people had prepared weeks before for it and scored worse.

Oh, and I'm hopefully working on another procrastination success story as I type this. :-\

 

[kumanoki]

My favorite procrastination stories all end with someone else doing what I've been putting off.

 

[Chony]

I do have horror stories. I always have procrastinated, and usually end up with high marks. This time though, I had my matrix algerbra midterm. I hadn't studied or done any homework, and since it was an open book test, I thought it would be no problem. Turns out I got a 44 out of 100. Ooops.

 

[Arwen]

In 12th grade I had this English assignment to write a play that would be due after Christmas break. It had to be about 20 pages and needed to include director's notes and diagrams of what the stage setup would be like if the play was performed in my high school theater.

I got the assignment at the beginning of the year and I didn't start it until the weekend before I went back to school from break. I stayed up for 2 days straight trying to finish it and somehow pulled it off.

The play got an A+ and my teacher liked it so much, he told my principal, who then decided that she should enter it in our school writing contest. It won first prize and then was performed later that year at my school's Spring Festival.

But whenever anyone asked me how long it took me to write it, I would say something like 2 months because I felt guilty for winning when everyone else had been working since September. Oh well.

 

[tt_deeb]

In 12th grade I had this English assignment to write a play that would be due after Christmas break. It had to be about 20 pages and needed to include director's notes and diagrams of what the stage setup would be like if the play was performed in my high school theater.

I got the assignment at the beginning of the year and I didn't start it until the weekend before I went back to school from break. I stayed up for 2 days straight trying to finish it and somehow pulled it off.

The play got an A+ and my teacher liked it so much, he told my principal, who then decided that she should enter it in our school writing contest. It won first prize and then was performed later that year at my school's Spring Festival.

But whenever anyone asked me how long it took me to write it, I would say something like 2 months because I felt guilty for winning when everyone else had been working since September. Oh well.

Wow, that's really awesome.

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

Came back from Thanksgiving break and saw all the other students handing papers into the professor, thought "Oh, shit."

Told the prof that I had simply forgot to bring it in, then stalled him for over two weeks with bullshit about emailing it in and it not going through.

Finally did the paper, super quick, one morning when I could wait no longer, and got a B.

 

[Chipopo]

In 12th grade I had this English assignment to write a play that would be due after Christmas break. It had to be about 20 pages and needed to include director's notes and diagrams of what the stage setup would be like if the play was performed in my high school theater.

I got the assignment at the beginning of the year and I didn't start it until the weekend before I went back to school from break. I stayed up for 2 days straight trying to finish it and somehow pulled it off.

The play got an A+ and my teacher liked it so much, he told my principal, who then decided that she should enter it in our school writing contest. It won first prize and then was performed later that year at my school's Spring Festival.

But whenever anyone asked me how long it took me to write it, I would say something like 2 months because I felt guilty for winning when everyone else had been working since September. Oh well.

Thread over

 

[ArcadeStickMonk]

I also owned my playwriting class with a play I wrote in about four hours in the morning three days after it was due. My play was chosen and performed the next semester.

 

[Cauliflower of Love]

9th Grade took French I, we had to do a photo album(50% of the class or some shit). I broke my ankle and just about flunked all my classes cause I'm a retard. I didn't do the album.

Next year I took french again, same teacher, so I knew from the beginning of the year I was going to have to do the photo album toward the end of the class. The night before I started it on it. Decided to not to do it. Showed up to class knowing she wouldn't take late projects(the year before and that same year she mentioned it endlessly).

Waited till about 1 in the morning that night, did it, brought it and somehow got her to accept it. Got a B on it i think.

 

[xsarien]

I'll reply to this thread later.

 

[Guzim]

In 12th grade I had this English assignment to write a play that would be due after Christmas break. It had to be about 20 pages and needed to include director's notes and diagrams of what the stage setup would be like if the play was performed in my high school theater.

I got the assignment at the beginning of the year and I didn't start it until the weekend before I went back to school from break. I stayed up for 2 days straight trying to finish it and somehow pulled it off.

The play got an A+ and my teacher liked it so much, he told my principal, who then decided that she should enter it in our school writing contest. It won first prize and then was performed later that year at my school's Spring Festival.

But whenever anyone asked me how long it took me to write it, I would say something like 2 months because I felt guilty for winning when everyone else had been working since September. Oh well.

Hahaha. Amazing.

 

[crisdecuba]

Not as amazing as the play story, but:

1. Essay due on Great Expectations in high school, 4 page paper.

2. Two weeks to complete.

3. Did it in 28 minutes in the library during lunch.

4. Received a 96% on it.

5. Second highest grade was an 82%.



~Cris

 

[Pochacco]

My entire academic life has been a procrastination success story.

 

[Spike Spiegel]

My entire academic life has been a procrastination success story.

I was going to post this, but decided I could do it later.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

This isn't exactly a last-night-only thing since it was a pretty big project, but still. I knew throughout my years of college that I'd have to do a senior project in computer science, but I didn't really know what to do. Most people split it up into the two semesters of their last year; spend the first semester mostly doing reading and thinking things over, and the second semester actually writing a paper (usually a few dozen pages) and doing a presentation on it. Well, I didn't split things into two semesters... nor did I have a good idea on what I wanted to do, though I was thinking something about displaying 4-dimensional objects on screen. Then I considered doing something with anaglyphs; making a program where one could arrange objects, give it a depth for various things, and create an anaglyph. Didn't go with that, either.

REALLY started work in April; spring break time. Ended up working further on an idea I'd started years before; a method of improving sprite graphics similar to the EAGLE and such found in emulators, but in my eyes improved. So I spent the next month working on it in little bits, and about a week before my presentation started working on the C++ version (my old one was in Visual Basic, and since I was worried expounding on my old project wasn't enough, I also added in the different problems I'd run across trying to get the same things accomplished in Visual Basic and using a C++ command line structure). That worked partially... but also gave some results that just didn't make sense. Never quite got it worked out though I spent many hours that week on it.

I put together a Power Pont presentation pretty much in the two days before my presentation. It went better than I thought, though, and took the best part of an hour and impressed the profs enough to earn me an A. I still had to write the paper, though, and I had about two weeks left for that. Of course that work ended up being done later on in the remaining two weeks too (a few the morning it was due), but I ended up with about 20 pages and it didn't lower my A grade on the project as a whole. So success.

 

[DarthWoo]

The most fulfilling procrastination stories come from instances when I've waited until perhaps two nights before to do something. I start to work on it, and maybe get 1/4 done, then say screw it, I'll just work extra hard the next night. The next day comes a message that the project is postponed for a few more days. I then proceed to not work on it until the night before the new due date anyway.

 

[Phoenix]

Damn my brain is shot. I thought that title said "Prostitution success stories." Time for me to go home.

 

[The Shadow]

The one I posted wasn't my favorite or even my greatest success story, it was just the most recent.

My greatest was probably when I had to write a 10 page minimum report on the whole Microsoft Anti-Trust mess. We were supposed to have at least 3 physical references but I made all mine up, choosing instead to grab all the info from the net. I did this, as well as write the entire 10 page report in just a few hours the night before it was due.

I forget my exact number grade but it was an A. Thank God he didn't check my references.

Not as amazing as the play story, but:

1. Essay due on Great Expectations in high school, 4 page paper.

2. Two weeks to complete.

3. Did it in 28 minutes in the library during lunch.

4. Received a 96% on it.

5. Second highest grade was an 82%.



~Cris

Awesome. I've never procrastinated so bad that I did it the very day it was due, unless you count the early am hours.

Damn my brain is shot. I thought that title said "Prostitution success stories." Time for me to go home.

You're welcome to share those too, if you have any.

 

[Phoenix]

You're welcome to share those too, if you have any.

Nah I don't but I saw the number of posts in the thread and quickly entered to see if I had been hanging out online with a bunch of pimps and hoes.... not that I'd leave mind you

 

[Crimson Dragon]

I had an 8 page History report to write for college. I waited until 2 hrs before class to even start it. 30 minutes before class, the computer crashed on me and I lost all my work. So I had to start all over again. 8 pages in 30 minutes and I got a B.

I've done worse though... we had to read a book over the summer for high school to get tested over it when we returned. I didn't read it, had a friend summarize it for me and got another B on the test.

 

[LizardKing]

Now here's a thread I can relate to! Just trust me.

 

[bionic77]

I had an 8 page History report to write for college. I waited until 2 hrs before class to even start it. 30 minutes before class, the computer crashed on me and I lost all my work. So I had to start all over again. 8 pages in 30 minutes and I got a B.

I've done worse though... we had to read a book over the summer for high school to get tested over it when we returned. I didn't read it, had a friend summarize it for me and got another B on the test.

A friend of mine used to do this all the time for his history papers. I would always be amazed when he would stay up late playing Madden with me when he had a paper due the next day. He would start hours before it was due and usually get a B or higher.

Also, this thread is the worst thing ever. I am studying for finals and don't need to hear about these kind of stories, they will kill what little motivation I still have.

 

[3phemeral]

I work full time, go to school more than full time and have a part-time job on the weekends, plus teach dance, so I procrastinate way more than I should.

For Cultural Geography class this quarter I had to write two papers. One was a Migration project tracking down my family history 3 generations ago until now. We had to draw out a map for each relative, show the migration dates, where they moved, reasons why, and an explanation followed for each. The day the report is due, I’m really shitting bricks because I get off of work at 5pm and have to be in class by 6:10pm. So I rush home and get there by 5:20pm, start the paper while eating lunch and do as much as I could do by 6:00pm, get to class by 6:30pm and turn the paper in.

Second paper due was a comprehensive Census report, graphing data from census 1990 and census 2000 and analyzing the results using the terminology we used in class. It had to be at least 6-7 pages without the census data included, reports the history of the town you lived in, local conditions and relevancy to the data present versus personal experience. Then explanations why such patterns occurred within your Group Block and how it relates to a third set of data you chose from the census data and how it correlates to similar scenarios in other communities.

At thee very least I thought it was just a comparison report, so I saved it for last minute – only to realize that when I got home at 5:30 that it was much more to it than just copying and pasting data, I panicked and wrote as fast and as much as I could, just throwing words around like multiple-nuclei, sector, and concentric district distribution. LDC this, MDC that, and finished up that nasty paper right before class ended. I ran to school and barely missed the professor, so I left a post-it note on my reports and slipped it under her desk, listing the time I got there and the reason why I was late (another late work day kekeke).

For this same class I rushed through a Midterm I didn’t study for because I had dance competition at 7:30, and class ends at 10opm. I originally scheduled the midterm for another day, but the TA swore up and down that it’d be an easy test. I agreed to take the exam in 30 minutes and found that the damned midterm was 7 pages long, multiple choice, 5 essay questions and 10 short answers. Keep in mind that this Professor is so anal on detail that the multiple choice isn’t really a choice for “what’s the obvious right and wrong, 1 out of 4 chance”, it’s more like “which answer is the most right out of all four", something that requires more than 30 minutes for the sheer amount of chapter breadth it covers. I guessed on everything because I didn’t read.

Anyway, yesterday I was feeling heavily depressed because I was reprimanded at work for not keeping up to date with certain things, then it hit me that I might not be doing so well in class. Well, I get to Geography class and the TA wants to see me in private to give me my papers and my reports. I’m sweating in her class pondering how badly I’m doing when our eyes lock and she says:

“Congrats on the good work!”

My heart drops and as I look at each of the papers.

Migration Report: 100%
Census Report: 100%
Midterm: B+

I swear, if I keep getting good grades like this, I’ll procrastinate all the time. Positive reinforcement sure is a bitch at times.

 

[Leon]

If your procrastination success stories involve getting an B+ or better, more than once, then either you haven't procrastinated enough, the material could afford the procrastination, or you're just fucking smarter (or more ahead on the material already) than you make it seem.

Truly, most of my unbelievable procrastination success stories involve getting Cs, one D (which is technically a failing grade), and maybe a B every once in a while, mostly in final exams and big-ass projects.

Also, this thread is the worst thing ever. I am studying for finals and don't need to hear about these kind of stories, they will kill what little motivation I still have.

Don't get the impression that procrastination on reports and papers can get you the same results as procrastination on finals and projects. Both are completely different, and on *completely* different levels, so keep at it.

 

[Memles]

In 12th grade I had this English assignment to write a play that would be due after Christmas break. It had to be about 20 pages and needed to include director's notes and diagrams of what the stage setup would be like if the play was performed in my high school theater.

I got the assignment at the beginning of the year and I didn't start it until the weekend before I went back to school from break. I stayed up for 2 days straight trying to finish it and somehow pulled it off.

The play got an A+ and my teacher liked it so much, he told my principal, who then decided that she should enter it in our school writing contest. It won first prize and then was performed later that year at my school's Spring Festival.

But whenever anyone asked me how long it took me to write it, I would say something like 2 months because I felt guilty for winning when everyone else had been working since September. Oh well.

Awesome story. I only ever write plays for fun. Had one performed by my drama class, then by a group of drama students at a festival. It's an awesome experience...I wrote mine in like a week, but I wasn't on a deadline. Two days is absolutely amazing for a 20 Page play, dude. I wrote my latest in an evening, but it's only a little One Act play.

Who asks how long it took you to write it? That's like people who ask what you got on a test just so you'll ask them the same back and they can brag incessantly. I hate people like...me.

 

[Lathentar]

A friend jokingly promised his boss that he'd have a research poster (college level) for the Software Engineering conference that she was putting on in a couple months. He asked me if I would help him out and I said hell yeah.

Skip ahead 2 months, I completely forgot about the poster. 5 PM the day before the conference I get an IM. Dude, WE NEED TO GET THE POSTER DONE. Apparently, due to it being the first year of the conference there was only 4 posters in the competition. We were planning on just bailing on the idea, but the lack of even one poster would greatly diminish the competition.

I go to his place and we completely understand that we have no data. Luckily, my friend had a topic in mind but it was only an idea. We ran to the co-op to try and find books on the subject, but no luck. Thus the google search began. We googled for about 6 hours getting the necessary information, but it was still barely enough. We grabbed a poster board and printed out the information.

I went home, woke up at 6 AM went to the conference. We were both volunteering at the conference, so we signed up then had about an hour of dead time. Well, I asked him how the poster looked and he said Its not done. We headed off to Kinkos and made the poster while we were suppose to be volunteering.

We got back, entered the poster into the competition. My friend is the best bullshitter I've ever seen and gave fantastic oral presentations to everyone that came by to judge. After all was said and done out of 4 posters we got 3rd place. 3rd place won us 200 bucks!

 

[3phemeral]

If your procrastination success stories involve getting an B+ or better, more than once, then either you haven't procrastinated enough, the material could afford the procrastination, or you're just fucking smarter (or more ahead on the material already) than you make it seem.

Truly, most of my unbelievable procrastination success stories involve getting Cs, one D (which is technically a failing grade), and maybe a B every once in a while, mostly in final exams and big-ass projects.



Don't get the impression that procrastination on reports and papers can get you the same results as procrastination on finals and projects. Both are completely different, and on *completely* different levels, so keep at it.

I think, at least to some degree, that when some of us think about our "qualifications" for procrastination, it often involves never alotting yourself enough time to do the work as well as you would have hoped, or at the very least; enough time to do the assigned material with (what you would consider on your own personal level) sufficient amount of work that meets your standard of approval. To be honest, even when I procrastinate, I tend to do a lot of research, even if very quickly. It's mind numbingly stupid because I curse myself everytime while I do it. I swear the headaches get worse everytime, but that seems to directly correspond to better grades

 

[The Shadow]

Bah...

 

[slayn]

we had an operating systems MP due right before thanksgiving. It was said that it was very long. Longer than all previous MP's combined. They said if you are extremely smart AND lucky you might be able to finish it in two whole days of working on it. They said if even 1/3 of the people don't finish it there will not be an extension.

I started 1.5 days before it was due. afternoon of the second day I bought Metroid Prime 2 and played to 40% completion. I finished it before it was due. I got an 80% The average was 30%.

 

[ChrisReid]

Anyone have a procrastination success story they'd like to share?

Hell yeah. Term paper for Econ 46something. Of course, it was a term paper, you had 10 weeks to work on it. I did the basic stuff.. at 3 weeks into the term you had to have a paragraph-length proposal and whatnot. Of course the actual "research" and "writing" all took place in the last 24 hours or so. I think it was about 15-20 pages or so. You turned it in at the beginning of the final exam, which lasted about 3 hours. Midway through the exam, he actually called a couple people up whose papers were unsatisfactory and had to be redone. He was a pretty odd guy, so I'm sure he paid no mind to how shaken up the students got by this. The class wasn't too big, and he managed to score them during the test. A few people got grades that clearly wouldn't let them pass the class and would put them in the running for summer school before they could graduate. I saw a girl or two with tears in her eyes and one guy saying he had to pass and graduate that term for whatever reason, and he wouldn't be able to now. The professor told him to retake the class. After watching crying girls storm out of the room, I was prepared for the worst. Well, when he got to mine, he either forgot to put a score on it, or more likely, missed it and didn't actually read it during the test. He flipped through a couple pages, scribbled an "A-" down in his books, and handed it back to me! Yay!

 

[ChrisReid]

Came back from Thanksgiving break and saw all the other students handing papers into the professor, thought "Oh, shit."

Told the prof that I had simply forgot to bring it in, then stalled him for over two weeks with bullshit about emailing it in and it not going through.

Finally did the paper, super quick, one morning when I could wait no longer, and got a B.

Ugh, this happened to me. Had a class with just two graded assignments. 10-15 page midterm paper and 20-25 page final paper (expansion of midterm). There was no set due date in the syllabus, we were to decide in class once we finished about half of the material. One day I was 10 minutes late, and apparently that's when they decided. None of my jack ass fellow students bothered to let me know, and somehow there was no reminder or further discussion about it. A week or so later, everyone came in with their stapled packets of paper, and I had nothing.
Walked up to the professor a few seconds before class started, told him I had no idea the paper was due then and told him I'd have it in the next day if he let me. He was a pretty great guy. Worked all night, brought it in the next morning, got a B.

 

[Joe]

in my high school biology final i guessed every single answer and got an 89. definitely not a procrastination success story but i just felt like posting that.

 

[B'z-chan]

first step into procrastination was in second grade i had to finish a 2 page book report a week. But i had just started at this private school in april. Unfortunatly i still had to hand in book reports for the 3/4's of the year i was not at the private school. You also had to bring the book in so the teacher would take down the books info.

So here it is last week of school i've kept up with all the book reports due each week but not my back log that i needed to complete. So i got a bunch of Goosebumps books about 30 or so. And looked at the synopsis of each book and the cover and pulled it all out of my ass. I worked on it for 3 days and got good scores for all of the papers but two, but thats not why i was held back. The reason was that the books were not acceptable by the teacher. So it wasnt a success but my first experiance with procrastination.

My most succesful procrastination was in 8th grade i had to finish a 20 page biography of my life and what i've learned about the world. It was 4am and the paper was due in just 4 hours. That same day i had a biology 2 test that i had not studied for. So within 4 hours i was able to study for my test and write about my life. To say the least i got a 97% on my paper and a 92% on my biology 2 test.

Another sucess was i pulled a researchathon for 3 days, knowing this was my symester project. You also had to present graphs and some slides on your subject. I got to the class and turned in the wrong paper, I had to get this done as it was worth 12% of my grade. But funny enough i was able to enter it into a writing contest. So while my class was reading they're papers i wrote on the spot out of my ass a 5 page paper on technology and environment. My original paper was on Industrial revolution and the start of modern buisness which had nothing to do with the subject we were suppost to write. I didnt have any graphs or slides but i got a C which was a great sucess. And my paper on the industrial revolution went over very well in my modern history class writing contest and was printed in some student magazine for teachers.

I feel so stupid now though i'm having to re-teach myself basic crap as i get ready to make the serious step into college. Something i should have done all through out high school, but didnt. I became cocky and sidetracked with life so i didnt retain a lot of valuable knowledge that i now need in college.

 

[Spike Spiegel]

...I'm currently operating on 90 minutes of sleep in the last 24 hours.

I had a presentation to make this morning for my 9am class, and it ended up taking ALL F*CKING NIGHT to put it together. I've known about the assignment since Day 1, and did my research in October and November. I bought a project board the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and made plans to finish by week's end... I started working on it Tuesday night this week. If I'd known doing all those illustrations was going to take so long, I'd have skipped them. How'd it turn out? ...Perfect score, and bonus points for creativity.



A success story? Well, the jury's still out... you see, I've got a 7-page research paper due by 11am tomorrow morning, and I've yet to begin writing it. My plan is to run home, take a nap, then pull another all-nighter to get the job done.