The Student Room Group

To pull an all nighter or not?

I have a geography paper tomorrow and i have to revise the two topics i need to know in depth, learn one from scratch and read over one other (about 15 pages each - tiny font by the way!) and I'm trying to figure out whether i would be better of working through the night or going to sleep and waking up at 4.30 (four hours of sleep) and working for another 6 hours before my paper. It's about 12.30 where I am now :frown:
Does anyone have any suggestions? is an all nighter really such a stupid idea :s-smilie:
Get a leep maybe get up a bit earlier for some revising
Reply 2
You might as well do it now; who knows if you'll wake up tomorrow morning.

Better to have all night than a few hours tomorrow morning if it isn't sticking
Personally, I always work better doing an all-nighter, and then using stimulants to get me through the exam. (Providing I don't have an exam the following day, as I am literally like a walking corpse for the next 12-16 hours).

Mainly because when I wake up in the morning I find it incredibly difficult to get out of bed, and then get going with revision.

Think about you, do you get tired working at night or are you more efficient?

Whatever you choose, good luck :smile:
Reply 4
how much sleep u had?? u gotta plan it out if ur gonna do such thing before an exam
Original post by Sophie1805
Personally, I always work better doing an all-nighter, and then using stimulants to get me through the exam. (Providing I don't have an exam the following day, as I am literally like a walking corpse for the next 12-16 hours).

Mainly because when I wake up in the morning I find it incredibly difficult to get out of bed, and then get going with revision.

Think about you, do you get tired working at night or are you more efficient?

Whatever you choose, good luck :smile:


this is really good advise. It really depends of whether you work better at night or during the day - its the same with me where I work better at night so tend to stay up later as I'm more awake and then sleep more in the morning :smile:
Reply 6
I'd say do stay up till you finish the work. When I say to myself I'll wake up early and do it I just fall asleep and can't be arsed to get up.

Coffee & energy drinks. Plus its way better because of that awesome relieving feeling you get once you finish your work and climb into your bed!
One night won't damage you too much, realistically. People say to definitely not go for a sleepless night of revision before an exam, which in all fairness can really only be applied to someone who's revised in detail and plans on looking over notes again the night before the paper. If you NEED to learn info, then you don't really have any other choice. Get perhaps a power nap before you leave for exam and good luck - All the best.
Reply 8
Do it, just think of all the sleep you can have after the paper :smile:
Reply 9
Yes, I'd say do the all nighter. They always worked for me and then you can sleep allll summer if you want.
I agree with most posts on here!
Stay up if you work better at night, like I do :smile:
Unless caffeine makes you jittery, have a good big mug of it an hour before your exam and you should be fine! Perhaps even a quick nap.

Good luck!!
I'm tempted to pull one for my exam tomorrow as well...

Just a little detail, but if you're using a pencil for notes at all then keep sharpening it! Yes, it may seem a trivial matter but from first hand experince I firmly believe that you do better work with a nice sharp pencil than a disappointingly, unmotivational blunt one. May also induce delusions that you're a fabulous scholar too. For at least ten minutes anyway till it gets blunt again.
Thanks so much everyone for the advice. I ended up going for an in between and got about three hours sleep, drank some coffee and managed to cover a fair chunk of what I wanted (though not all! -_-) the exam went better than expected though so its all good! thanks once again :biggrin:

Original post by SmokeRose92
I'm tempted to pull one for my exam tomorrow as well...

Just a little detail, but if you're using a pencil for notes at all then keep sharpening it! Yes, it may seem a trivial matter but from first hand experince I firmly believe that you do better work with a nice sharp pencil than a disappointingly, unmotivational blunt one. May also induce delusions that you're a fabulous scholar too. For at least ten minutes anyway till it gets blunt again.


Did you end up pulling the all nighter? How did the paper go?
Original post by Le Masquerador.
Thanks so much everyone for the advice. I ended up going for an in between and got about three hours sleep, drank some coffee and managed to cover a fair chunk of what I wanted (though not all! -_-) the exam went better than expected though so its all good! thanks once again :biggrin:



Did you end up pulling the all nighter? How did the paper go?


It went well actually, 3 hours was enough for my fingers to go numb though. One more on tuesday and then I'm finished! How about you? Did the night revision pay off?
Original post by SmokeRose92
It went well actually, 3 hours was enough for my fingers to go numb though. One more on tuesday and then I'm finished! How about you? Did the night revision pay off?


My paper was also 3 hours and my God did I feel it! I think the revision was worth it, but I wont really know until results day :redface:

I feel really jealous right now :frown: I have four more papers left and they don't finish until the 13th June :rolleyes:

Which paper did you have? Good luck with your next one! :smile:
Original post by Le Masquerador.
My paper was also 3 hours and my God did I feel it! I think the revision was worth it, but I wont really know until results day :redface:

I feel really jealous right now :frown: I have four more papers left and they don't finish until the 13th June :rolleyes:

Which paper did you have? Good luck with your next one! :smile:


Ahh do you have a level papers to do? I'm at uni now so although there are less exams, the cwk load is mental. Who puts a deadline for 3 assignments that collectively add up to 15,000 on the same night? :unimpressed:

I had one on Shakespeare though. You? Yeah you too, power through! Are you going to uni next year?
Original post by SmokeRose92
Ahh do you have a level papers to do? I'm at uni now so although there are less exams, the cwk load is mental. Who puts a deadline for 3 assignments that collectively add up to 15,000 on the same night? :unimpressed:

I had one on Shakespeare though. You? Yeah you too, power through! Are you going to uni next year?


Oh i see, yeah I'm doing my AS papers at the moment so no, uni applications begin this year for me, i hope! That's absolutely psychotic :s-smilie:, people like me (eternal procrastinators) would be weeded out by the first year on a course like that! :colondollar: Hope it all turns out well for you :smile:

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