Papers are ruffling around as a student frantically flips through notes from the semester, the steam from their fourth coffee is rising into the ventilation, and into other peers’ noses that happen to be around. A pencil scratches on a loose-leaf paper, jotting notes for information they will certainly need to know for their next exam or final. Behind this student is another student, their keyboard being stroked quickly as they type the answers to a study guide so they may read them repeatedly before the test the same day. A clock reads: 2:03 am. The student yawns, stretches their eyes open and tries to stay awake. It’s a common sight: the all-nighter; a student in their not-so-natural habitat called the library, reading away at slides and notes. I will not do an all-nighter as long as it’s preventable…and it’s very preventable.

I wanted to title this: “I’ll never do an all-nighter” but my mother raised me better than to say never. Literally, I hear her in the back of my head saying, “never say never, Michael.” In college I know a lot of people who pull all-nighters, they drink three or four cups of coffee, cram information into their heads and study until three am. They sleep for two or three hours then take their test while exhausted from the morning earlier in the day. I won’t do that, ever. My most important facet of my life is to keep healthy, schooling is second. It will never be, I don’t believe, more important to study for an exam than to maintain a healthy sleep schedule and healthy body. Also, cramming doesn’t work well.

There’s no real reason to risk your mental, physical and emotional health to cram for any test. Sitting down, studying for six hours straight and cramming answers into your skull and not sleeping is not only bad for health, but doesn’t work; so why would I do it? Instead, I prefer to spread my studying out in intervals (approximately two hours, then a short break of fifteen to thirty minutes) so I don’t have to cram and I presume I retain the information better. Rote memory won’t work when you have to apply what you’ve learned, rather than just regurgitate it. If you need rote memory though…I understand just memorizing answers as is (though most exams don’t do it that way).

Besides, I wake up everyday at five am (because I’m a loon) and go to sleep between nine or ten pm. That’s a solid six to seven hours of sleep. I get a seventeen to eighteen hour day and with that time I study as well as I can, with a few breaks throughout the day. I believe it’s more conducive than an all-nighter and frankly: what college student wants to sacrifice sleep? I’ve learned two things college students truly love: sleep and food. If anyone ever asked me if I’d do an all-nighter with them, my answer would simply be “no” because I want my sleep (despite my disdain for needing sleep) and want to be rested to perform better on the exam.