[Ivanka]

It seems that everyone but me writes essays overnight. This really surprises me as I can't write more than four hours a day and then I need to stop, relax and have a look at it another day to avoid babbling (which happens to me when I get tired). Obviously, each to their own, but I am wondring whether I'm a minority in this respect or not...

[SpicyStrawberry]

I always give myself plenty of time to write essays, if you rush it chances are the work won't be the best quality and your marks will suffer. Leave the people who do this to it I say, it's their decision and up to them how much work they put in.

[Historiana]

I've never written an essay overnight! It usually takes me around a week to write a 2,000 essay, edit it and submit it properly.

[Jordan_1]

No, considering it is the summer holidays...

[Kelly1987]

When I have assignments I tend to do my research during the days as I spend time in libraries etc, then once I have all my research the writing up of an assignment ends up being during the evening / night time! So I'd say I'm a bit of both ha ha!

I'm sure it's just what YOU prefer. Sometimes I change, and work only during the day, or only at night. Though I have started to find that relaxing, like going out for a couple of drinks with friends, or having some fun during assignment times, helps me to stay relaxed and to write better essays. (I don't mean going out getting completely drunk, just 2/3 drinks and a chat kind of thing helps me relax!)

Although according to my Professor the best time to learn / study etc is between 4am and 8am!

[Kelly1987]

(Original post by Jordan_1)
No, considering it is the summer holidays...

Not everyone has summer holidays! I don't. I'm on a 2 year intensive Law degree.

[georgia]

Mine vary. If I take time over research and gathering my thoughts, I can write a short (2500 words) essay in a few hours so overnight is fine. But I will usually have put in hours and hours in the library on research before then.

My personal record is 10,000 words in two days for two long essays. It was horrible and I am never doing that again.

[TheSownRose]

I can write until quite late into the evening ... but like you, I can't do it as a sustained effort and that only happens if I start quite late as well (eg, if I start at 1900, I can go until 0000 or 0100; I couldn't if I started at 1500, I'd have probably stopped for the day at dinner time.)

I went through university without a single all-nighter.

[rockrunride]

For the two main assessed essays I had to do for the Spanish dept this year, I did an all-nighter for one in January and didn't for another at Easter, though I did spend the best part of two weeks doing the latter because it had to be longer and it was right before exams. Did better on the Easter one!

[boba]

I usually do it spread out although in the end I usually end up working late into the night before the deadline. the one time I didn't start an essay at all, not even any research, I until 7pm the night before it was due in at 3 in the afternoon I I got one of the highest marks I've ever got though.

[onda]

I write essays for fun :P

[angel_night]

I don't think I could handle the pressure of writing an essay the night before. When I write mine (3,000 words) I usually write them over 3 days (with a reasonable about of procrastination involved!) and with a fair amount of time before the deadline, so that I can edit without feeling overly paniced and stressed! I never know how people can take the pressure of night before/morning of and whilst I think I could push myself to do it, I don't think it would end overly well lol. However, some of my coursemates only ever wrote the night before and have done fantastically! It really depends on the individual.

[im TSR]

Reading and note taking tends to take up the most time for me.

I have written essays the night before and I hated it. The lack of sleep is the worst!

I'm comfortable with taking 4-5 days to complete my essays. This is starting with no knowledge of the topic and includes reading.

[Speckle]

I'm the same as you, I can't well for long periods of time. But when your essay is due in 10 hours and you haven't started... there's not much choice.

[Ivanka]

(Original post by Speckle)
I'm the same as you, I can't well for long periods of time. But when your essay is due in 10 hours and you haven't started... there's not much choice.

I hope this is not the case of UCL...

[Shelly_x]

I can't do that, I need sleep too much.

[mel0n]

I write them last minute My last set of assignments I had 2 x 4500, 1 x 4000 and 1 x 3000 due on the same day. I wrote the 4000 in advance and the other 3 overnight / in the morning

I know a girl on my course who starts writing hers about a month before hand. And a looot of my friends start theirs quite early, at least the planning and prep at the very least. I don't know that many people who leave them till the night before.

[IAmTheKing]

All but a couple of my essays were written overnight... Fortunately at least 3 ended getting 80%+... now if only I could do exams overnight.

EDIT: So in answer to your question, no. Although I do plan to spend a bit more time on future essays. One of my plans is to write an essay overnight, but well before the deadline, then completely edit/revise it overnight at a later date. See how that pans out.

[Aeschylus]

Never written an essay the night before. I take a lot of time to write out essays and the first draft is always rubbish. I give myself a lot longer than I think I need as well and make sure all the researching is out the way well beforehand.

[jelly1000]

Usually takes me at least 4 days to write an essay, I've never done one all in one day, shortest length of time I've taken is 2 days and they were 2 long days.