If there’s a collective thing all college students are good at, it’s procrastination. No matter how many times we tell ourselves, Next time, I’ll start studying early. You always end up in the same place, frantically flipping through notes at 2 AM, fuelled by caffeine, stress, and the distant hope that sheer willpower can replace actual preparation, and if all else fails, just fill in C on the scantron. It literally happens to me every time, I walk into a midterm, ready to bolt the other way, I take it, and then I walk out with the same response “at least we have the final we can study and do well at”. Sounds familiar right?
It always starts the same way: absolute denial. Maybe you forgot about the exam. Maybe you convinced yourself there was still plenty of time. Either way, reality hits and bam, next thing you know the exam is tomorrow. “Are you ready for the test tomorrow?” Cue the five stages of academic grief:
- Denial – No way it’s tomorrow. How did this week fly by?
- Anger – It’s not my fault I skipped so much class!
- Bargaining – If I study all night and skip breakfast, maybe I can cram everything in, I got this.
- Depression – There’s no way I’m passing. Maybe I should just drop out.
- Acceptance – It’s in God’s hands now.
But us college students don’t give up. We are paying our life savings (literally) in tuition and we cannot afford to (financially and mentally) fail this exam. Cue the caffeine. No all nighter is complete without coffee, energy drinks, matcha, whatever it may be to keep your brain firing and awake, or even just alert enough to absorb some sort of information. Beware of the inevitable caffeine crash, though. There’s nothing worse than powering through an all-nighter only to get to the exam and be struggling to keep your eyes open, this happens to me far too often.
Since time is not on your side with the last minute cramming methods, efficiency is everything. Forget deep learning, this is about getting as much information into your brain as humanly possible in the shortest amount of time. Even just slightly touching on a top topic so if it comes up in a multiple choice question you’re ready to go. Here’s how:
The Skim & Pray Method
Read through your notes at light speed, highlighting everything that looks important.
The YouTube Crash Course
Find a 10-minute video explaining the entire semester’s worth of material. Preferably with animations. Khan academy is always my go to for quick math explanations
The Group Study Hack
Meet with friends who actually studied and let them summarize everything for you. It’s a win-win situation, they get to study by repeating back to you and you get a sense for what will be on the exam! Perfect!
One thing about me is that I’m not built for an all nighter life. I’m a girl who needs her sleep. 8 hours minimum. Regularly, I’m in bed by 10 and ready to count some Z’s but those 2 times a year (midterm and finals). It’s go time for me. Surviving an all nighter and taking an exam the next day is not for the weak. It’s something that requires practice and serious skill. You need to get to know yourself and know how your body works before you master the all nighter. But there’s always that inevitable wall you reach around 3am. The wall that makes you question if this all is really worth it. But you can always push through.
- Set Study Goals – Break down topics into 30-minute chunks so you don’t get overwhelmed. To be honest, there’s no way you’re going to learn a whole college course in one night, keep it realistic and focus on things you know will be on the test.
- Use the Pomodoro Technique – Study for 25 minutes, take a 5-minute break. Repeat until your soul leaves your body. I found this method on TikTok and to be honest, it does the trick for me. 25 minutes is just enough where I’m locked in the whole time. (I know I know, this generation has a horrible attention span)
- Snack – Having little bites to eat here and there, keeps me awake. My other hack is to find a small sweet treat you like (mine is skittles) and give yourself one each time you get a question right or move on to the next chapter. This always keeps me motivated to keep on keeping on.
- Move Around – Every hour, stand up, stretch, or do jumping jacks. This keeps your brain from melting. It gets hard but what’s harder, failing your exam? Or moving around a little to stay awake?
Of course, the time will come when it’s time to sit down and write this thing. If there’s 2 things I took away from elementary school then this is it. 1 skip a question if you aren’t sure, you can always come back to it (unless it’s an online exam where your teacher has it set to one question at a time and once you answer then you can’t go back, then good luck) and 2, take a breath, in the grand scheme of things, this is just one single exam you will take in your life. It’s not going to be the end of the world. There’s probably more exams and assignments to come that can boost your grade anyway (and if this is the final and you need a 92% to pass the course, then good luck). But there’s a couple more things you can do to feel a bit better about this exam.
Skim Everything Again – A last-minute review can maybe point out a couple multiple choice answers right?
Fake Confidence – Even if you have no idea what’s happening, answer questions with conviction. Teachers can smell fear. Fake it till you make it right! You are so ready for this!
Guess Smart – If all else fails, go with C. It’s not scientifically proven, but it feels right.
Cramming isn’t ideal, but let’s face it—it’s a college tradition at this point. At one point or another you are going to have to deal with this, if you didn’t then are you even human? Will you ever learn your lesson and develop better study habits? Probably not. But as long as caffeine exists, last-minute studying will always have a place in academia.
Good luck, fellow procrastinators especially just in the midst of midterm season. You got this, and hang in there.