So, I pulled eight all-nighters last semester

[1048576]

Two of them were in a row. I literally designed a circuit for 48 hours straight. Then I got a zero because it ended up not working. I was like the definition of cranky on that third day

Anyway, is this normal? Do you guys also have this much stress in college? I'm not sure if it's a function of poor time management (I spend about an hour eating, an hour browsing the forums, and 30 mins playing basketball every day,) a problem with the cirriculum being too difficult for me, or if everyone pulls regular all-nighters.

My friends never do though, and their GPA's are way higher than mine

Edit: I also set aside two hours for gaming every Friday night

 

[B-Will]

Yes, it is normal. However, honestly, it shouldn't have to come to it.

I pulled about 3 all nighters last semester. (My major is electrical engineering btw.) Why did I do it? Because I didn't know the material well enough to not do it.

However, all nighters shouldn't happen. If you get your **** done little by little a couple of weeks before finals week and during finals week, there is no need for an all nighter.

All nighters are bad. You feel like **** the next day, and the amount of material you retain during all nighters < the amount you retain when you actually pace yourself.

I wouldn't recommend it.

There is a reason why your buddies GPA is higher than yours. They know how to pace. I did well too, but ****, all nighters suck. No good.

 

[Tom]

They say the hardest part about qutting is admitting you have a problem, but god **** there is a big difference between quitting and actually starting. I've been admitting that I have a procrastination problem, a lack of willpower, a tendency to put things off until the last minute for god knows how long; I guess for all of my school life I've been getting by simply finishing everything up at the last second, hoping for the best, and keeping my GPA at the lowest "acceptable" point I can have. Now that I've been out of high school where I kept my GPA around the 2.8~3.1 area and into college where I'm Pre-med, my GPA is at 3.65~ish. I know it needs to be higher. My science average is high, like a 3.8~ish, but I slack off in the boring non-science filler classes and it brings my grades down like hell. Sometimes I even skip class, and end up pulling all-nighters just so that I can make up for lost time or finish a semester's worth of work in a week.

I'm told that in Med school I'm going to be pulling all nighters on a regluar basis just to keep up with the professors and my fellow students. I need to get my **** straight.

And thats the once in a blue moon freak out admission to the PRoom by Tom. See you all at the end of the semester.

 

[1048576]

I really do tend to start things well before they are due. The fact is, things take the same amount of time no matter when you do them with respect to the due date.

For example, today I'm going to circuit's lab even though my actual section doesn't "start" until next Monday. I know I'm going to need more time than my peers and I need to get a jump on it. The drawback is I may have to skip gaming night.

 

[SuperBowser]

Well I guess I'm in the minority but I'm going to say it's not normal. Only one of my friends pulls all nighters and it's not a pretty sight. He always looks like a zombie during the exam and he even fell asleep during an end of year exam (god knows how he passed that one). He himself recognizes it's silly, but he can't help but leave work to the last moment.

I enjoy cramming. My housemates skip up to 90% of lectures in a year but they would still never pull an all nighter. Beginning work earlier in the day is better.

If you are happy with how you work, more power to you. The closest I've come to a (work-related) all nighter is 2 hours sleep and I was shattered the next day =/

 

[GoldShadow]

Yes, it is normal. However, honestly, it shouldn't have to come to it.

...

However, all nighters shouldn't happen. If you get your **** done little by little a couple of weeks before finals week and during finals week, there is no need for an all nighter.

This is the truth here. Sometimes, the workload and stress will be high. I have never had to pull an all-nighter, and I've never understood why people would have to pull all-nighters in college; it's just a matter of good time management and getting your work done efficiently and on time.

 

[AltF4]

I rarely pull all-nighters. You just have to pace yourself.

I do a LOT of work, though. Last semester, I had 13 hour days 5 days per week between work and school. And then on the weekends I just did school work, too. But I'm one of those people who don't operate well on low amounts of sleep. So I know my limits.


If I can give one piece of advice to help avoiding all-nighters it's this: Be able to estimate accurately how long it will take you to complete projects/homework. This is what lets you plan accordingly.

What few all-nighters I did have to do were all because the project BEFORE the one I was working on went way over time. Debugging programs is just like that. You never know whether you'll be done in 10 minutes or 10 hours. But being able to accurately guess is very important.

 

[Dodongo]

I had to pull seven all-nighters last semester, so I think it's normal. I'd really like to pace myself better, but I have been trying to avoid getting student loans and so I've been paying for school directly by working a lot. What little free time this leaves me I ration as well as I can, but I value personal time more than anything.

 

[slave1]

nope. i have done one all nighter and that was a friday to saturday. i was not happy about it either. i hate staying up late. it just sucks the next day.

my GPA rocks so. frankly your schedule seams fine. i guess you need to figure out how to do your homework in a more reasonable amount of time.