Allnighters for assignments

I'm sleepy. It's 3:22 am (my time), and I've just come up with a 2000 word piece in the last 6 hours. And I've still got plenty to go: it isn't even finished yet.

(An amusing/unamusing note: My lecturer is thankfully and depressingly modern (postmodern? I can't think which), and hasn't given us ANY word count at all, which is all very well in its own way, but leaves me completely befuddled. She thinks such silly things as word counts shouldn't be hindering our creativity and individual perspectives. It does not help that this is her essay question:

 Brief

Your task is to come up with an assessment plan for T. You need to indicate the language schema you have that is the basis of your thinking about language. You need to indicate the questions you have, and why the tool you have chosen will give you the answers you need (and be specific, not general answers about the kind of assessment it represents). If you need answers to some questions (ie results of some assessments) before you can proceed with a next step, you can hypothesise some of these. Use the sample above as though it were a larger sample if you would like.

Use at least 3 tools of assessment for which you can provide references. Use other tools as you see fit. It is not necessary to assess everything; the aim of assessment is to give direction and goals for language intervention that are appropriate for the stage of development and the particular context.

The more specific and in-depth you can be, the better your marks will be. You can put your work in tables if that helps, and please use headings and sub-headings to indicate the organisation of your work.

Yes, very open, very unstructured, unbelievably vague.)

I'm excited by the assignment, so this isn't at all a Pits of Hell topic, but I AM finding it so hard to focus, especially at this time of night.

How to focus? (Suggestions on the essay would be good too, but I don't think anyone here is a speech language therapist.) Here are my current strategies:
- sleeping for 20 minutes when I stop focusing
- writing out a timetable that I can report on every 5 minutes
- stopping when I get distracted (eg by Southperry. oops.)
- keeping paper and pen handy so I can brainstorm
- having all my textbooks on hand
- trying to direct myself from a top-down approach so I can keep my mind on the bigger picture

I steadfastly don't believe in drinking coffee, but maybe you do... How else do people pull off allnighters efficiently?

I just chug forward until it's finished. I have anxiety issues and if I don't get an assigment done in time I flip out, which is great motivation!

Sleeping is very dangerous when trying to pull all-nighters... at least in my experience.

More than once I told myself that I would "just take a quick nap" only to wake up over two hours later and with that much less time to work on my assignment. I find that if I just keep working straight through, there comes a point when I get a "second wind" and a renewed energy that helps me get through the later part of the night (or early part of the morning?)

Coffee for me doesn't help at all; the caffeine ends up making me more jittery than anything else.

drink some of that 5 hour energy stuff:

me and my friend got those, as we were both doing a all nighter thingy, we were wired the entire night.

I steadfastly don't believe in drinking coffee, but maybe you do... How else do people pull off allnighters efficiently?

it really helps and makes a difference in terms of being able to "focus". drink it in sips of when you need it though otherwise, you'll just gets really hyper at one point then pass out the rest of the night.

the more allnighters you pull, the more you get used to all nights so thats how people stay up easier/doesnt need coffee.

it really helps and makes a difference in terms of being able to "focus". drink it in sips of when you need it though otherwise, you'll just gets really hyper at one point then pass out the rest of the night.

the more allnighters you pull, the more you get used to all nights so thats how people stay up easier/doesnt need coffee.

Yeah, I pulled allnighters regularly for the entire of last year. I was doing my final year of an arts degree and I don't think there was a single essay I didn't pull an allnighter for, the entire year. However I haven't had to do that yet this year, guess I've been more organised until now... Aww, I lost my allnighterability :<

I guess part of the reason I don't drink coffee is that I'm an ex-dental assistant and disapprove of it xD I don't drink sugary drinks either unless I'm forced to for politeness' sake (so Red Bull and V are probably out too). I might consider sugarfree V as a last resort, but if I can get the same results by periodic rest/some other non-caffeine technique, wouldn't that be better?

I know, I'm such an idealist.

EDIT: Throws - haha, oh yes. Actually I managed to do two or three rounds of sleep-work-sleep-work until I fell asleep at around 5 and couldn't bring myself to wake up for another 2 hours. That was reasonably productive. Maybe I just need more alarm clocks around my room..

Wow, I hate it when the assignment is really vague like that. It doesn't give you very much to work with when you're trying to get started. On the other hand, overly restrictive topics are detrimental as well because it can be difficult to make it long enough when you can talk only on a narrow subject. There's a pretty delicate balance that most teachers just don't quite seem to get.

How to focus? (Suggestions on the essay would be good too, but I don't think anyone here is a speech language therapist.) Here are my current strategies:
- sleeping for 20 minutes when I stop focusing As he said, not a great idea. If you miss the alarm you'll be in trouble. Too risky.
- writing out a timetable that I can report on every 5 minutes - This might work, but 5 minutes seems to often. Would the time you spent on the time table be detracting from what time you have a available? Knowing your attention to detail this is a very real concern :p
- stopping when I get distracted (eg by Southperry. oops.) - XD Yeah, if you need to you may want to disconnect the internet. Unless you need it to work on your paper, in which case... I don't know what to do. I'm not gonna be selfish and tell you to come on xD
- keeping paper and pen handy so I can brainstorm - Definitely. Most of the time when I get distracted while writing it's because I have run out of ideas at the time. If you can get yourself to write up more ideas it will likely keep you on track
- having all my textbooks on hand - Probably a good idea, the reasons why are self explanatory.
- trying to direct myself from a top-down approach so I can keep my mind on the bigger picture - If that's how you work then definitely. I don't think it would help me very much though.

small snacks that are known to keep you focused and other tidbits, I drink some green tea and have pretzels ready. I don't stay on the same thing all at once as that often makes things "stale" also i get a good playlist going to keep you nice and amped. that usually helps me the most

I don't need coffee when I pull allnighters, because... yeah, I get so nervous when I actually do that. The last all nighter I tried to pull ended up with me sleeping until morning x_x I had to get leave from work and go to Uni to finish off. I drink green tea with milk (in large quantity), snacks that aren't crunchy (mum sleeps in the next room,and she randomly check on me during the night and will start yelling if I am still not sleeping at say 1:30am), make sure I dont make a lot of noise. I don't actually listen to music unless I want a heart attack from someone opening the door of my room... otherwise you can play something that makes you calm... not sleepy calm though.

Napping is a bad idea imo as well, because normally when I take a nap, I either wake up all edgy or very sleepy. neither is good for finishing off assignment, therefore not recommended.

Distract yourself once in a while with something, go to the toilet and wash your face, get more tea/fruit/etc from the kitchen or something. Better be brief little tasks so you don't dwell on it too long.

Good luck :f6:

I find that eating ice cream or something cold can help when you're feeling sleepy. Not too much, or you'll get a sugar rush and feel even more tired afterward.

Try washing your face with very cold water. It's helped wake me up so many times whenever I was near the edge of falling asleep.

I had to reread the assignment two times to get the idea of what you were trying to write about. ><"

I'm pulling a all nighter right now, and I don't feel a tad bit sleepy at all. It's been only my first month at college, but I'm used to pulling all nighters in high school. Here are some stuff that I keep in mind though when I'm doing this stuff:

1) The work you hand in will affect your grade, and you're paying real money for that stuff. Don't want it to go down the drain now, do you?
2) Have something to occupy your taste buds. I have a snack/candy/fruit/drink (non-alcoholic) by my side so I can eat and do my work. It comes in quite handy.
3) Don't, don't, don't take naps. Cause sometimes you just fall asleep and never wake up from it.
4) Take showers in between. I know this sounds weird, but a refreshing shower does help a bit.
5) No matter how boring it is, always try to focus on your work. Reread if you have to.
6) YouTube, but don't get too distracted by it.
7) Energy drinks/espresso are the last option. I have one in the fridge just in case all of the above doesn't work.

Hope your work gets done, I gotta get back to my chemistry.

Personally, I just don't get tired as long as I'm at the computer. As soon as I get up from it, fatigue hits me like a brick wall... which makes things like going to the washroom risky. Upbeat music in the background helps

The worst I've done was a 52 page essay in 1 weekend back in high school bio regarding creationism vs. evolutionism. We had the whole semester to do it and, of course, I procrastinated... Wound up with a 92

The main thing I try to do is read and understand all my assignments well ahead of time but I guess that's not helpful in this case. If you have thought about it it's easier to get on it and finish quickly.