Finals are fast approaching. Right now we are all so focused on Thanksgiving Break, seeing our families and friends and just getting some time off. Sadly, it will be short lived because once we get back to school that’s it. There will be no more time for relaxing it will be all about cramming in an entire semester’s worth of school in just two short weeks.

This being said there is one thing that I strongly advise against: all-nighters. In theory pulling an allnighter is a great idea, you stay up get all of your work done and learn everything that an impending final could possibly ask plus you’ll already be awake for your first class the next morning and let's face it it an excuse to drink coffee!

That is the theory but the truth of an all nighter is you won't actually get much done. When I pull all nighters I end up getting extremely distracted very easily. This means that the longer I go the more frequently I need to take breaks. The more coffee I drink to suppress my exhaustion the more I seem to yawn and wish that I was already in bed. But it does wake my body up so I end up losing motivation.

You are either going to overeat or forget to eat and either way once you come out on the other side it will not be pretty. Personally when I stay up all night I get too focused to pay attention to the fact that my stomach is growling so loudly that the person at the computer next to me can hear it.

Staying up all night inevitably leads to me walking around South Campus alone in the middle of the night. Now, If you are not familiar with UB you might not know this but south campus is not the safest place to be walking around alone at night. These walks typically are fueled by the need to go to studio or the need to get as far from studio as I can but first and foremost they are a form of procrastination.

All of this being said there are times when I successfully pull an all nighter and get all of my work done , like last night. These days I feel amazing about all the work I did accomplish but the next day I walk around looking like a zombie who only knows the word “coffee.”

To be totally honest I have stayed up too late the night before a test studying and totally ended up sabotaging myself. I was so stressed and tired that all I ended up ding was confusing myself even more!

As we approach finals season this semester keep in mind that you're best chance of doing well truly is to plan ahead and start studying in advance. Give yourself time to learn what you need to and instead of scrambling to get everything done the night before relax, have a cup of tea and laugh at everyone who is freaking out because the “totally forgot to study.”

Good luck with the rest of you're semesters everyone!