Magda El Dada | Staff Writer
Though we hate to admit it, we’ve all had to sacrifice our sleep – and sanity – for the sake of an exam. We say it’s going to be different this time, that we’re going to study well beforehand and ration our time, but that all-nighter before a midterm that is worth at least 25% of your grade is inevitable. So, if you’re going to give in to this unhealthy yet mostly beneficial habit, you might as well do it effectively. Here are 3 steps to make staying up till sunrise studying worth it:
- Choose a study partner – and choose them right.
When you’re alone in your room and the sky’s pitch black, it can be very tempting to fall asleep. Also, it can be very lonely to be surrounded by your notes and comfort foods, all alone as the stress slowly eats away at your thoughts and hinders your focus. For that, it can be very useful to have a person or two stay up to study with you. The company of a person who’s going through the same pressure as you and has their mind set on getting work done will push you forward and blur out the void of being alone. The minute-long breaks you would usually spend on your phone or contemplating whether to give up or not can instead be invested in a conversation that frees your mind for a bit.
However, it’s crucial to pick your partner right. Make sure to choose someone who has study goals that align with yours, not someone who’s going to distract you every few minutes or bombard you with questions that are going to take away from your own study time. It can be hard to find someone whose mind is in the same place as yours, but once you do, it makes all the difference in the world.
- Schedule your time and content.
Going into the all-nighter blind will most likely result in a waste of your time. Paired with stress, fatigue, and a long to-do list that are all over the place, getting any work done efficiently will be nearly impossible. Alternatively, if you start out your night with a feasible study plan in which you’ve accounted for both the division of content and your breaks, and if you rightly stick to it, you will be sure to make the most out of your night. Make sure to make your plan realistic and time-efficient: don’t set unachievable goals that you know you won’t attain. Though your initial aim might be to get a whole lot more done, reduce your expectations so that your night doesn’t end in disappointment. You might have to tick fewer things off the list, but at least you’ll be ticking them all off. Accounting for your breaks is also just as crucial. Don’t set a plan that expects you to go on a 6-hour study streak; it may be hard to believe it at the time, but you are human being with limitations, and your brain deserves a break. Otherwise, you will burn yourself out before the night is even halfway done.
- Use a reward system!
When I first suggested this method to a friend of mine, she labeled it as “robotic” and mocked it jokingly. Now, we both use it together as though our lives depend on it when we’re up late studying. The reward system works as such: for every task accomplished from your study plan, reward yourself with something that will push you through the others. Your reward can range from being as small as going on a 10-minute walk or eating a snack to ordering your favorite dessert and watching an episode of Friends. This way, you can find the motivation to power through the study clusters because you know that aside from the bigger achievement that is your grade, you have these small mini achievements that deserve recognition as well. This is not a form of “torturing” or “gaslighting” yourself, as my friend used to put it, but rather a means to fuel you and help you appreciate your hard work and effort.
Staying up all night to study is never fun, but one can learn to make the most out of it. By surrounding yourself with good company, resorting to a timely and well planned-out schedule, and rewarding yourself for your little achievements, you can be sure to make it to your exam without feeling burnt out and unmotivated. Finally, and most importantly, the biggest reward is saved for after your exam: sleeping your heart out.