What is the Wisdom behind "Pulling an All-Nighter"?
Walking through the LSE library during the exam study period can be an experience in itself. Students, sitting quietly in their reserved desks and tables, seem to have not moved from that exact position in days. Behind piles of books, printed documents, and empty cans of Red Bull are sometimes near non-human-like red eyes, accentuated by the unnatural puffiness of their darkened skin beneath them. Sometimes, close-distance observation is not even needed for knowing that they have been in the same spot for a long, long time...one simply has to open one's nostrils to the bodily scents emitted in the area...
For all the grad students who has not experienced the stress of exam preparation in years, just the looks of all the students milling about their endless amount of comprehensions and memorization must be a moment of déjà vu of their own undergrad years, when the concept of grades seems to be have been a much more important source of pride, stress, and factor in future success than they are now. Many of them, like me, are also busy digging into their books, realizing firsthand that, unlike back in those high school and undergrad days, their minds can no longer absorb large amounts of information as quickly.
That is not to say we as grad students are not studying as hard as the undergrads. However, what I find difficult to understand, starting from my days at Yale as a freshman, is why some people "pull all nighters" routinely to complete their assignments or cram for their exams. And in extreme cases, like those in the LSE library filling the room with their fragrant body odors, seem to have come to some sort of conclusion that studying through the night for a few days before the exam is not only a sign of diligence and productivity, but also pretty much the only way to "get anything done" in time for the exam itself.
This line of logic is difficult to understand for someone like me whose only all-nighters ever pulled was either for partying or playing video games. The idea of studying all night the day for a major test is simply inconceivable as I know I will simply crash and fall asleep, or at least be awake enough to suffer through a slow and inopportune brain-death in the middle of the exam. Instead of smoothly regurgitating the information one took so much time and effort to study and memorize the night before, the students who pulled all-nighters would be simply staring at their exam papers with a mind blanked out from tiredness.
And then they are those students who are argued that they just cannot concentrate and focus enough to get any studying or work done without the pressure of a severe time constraint. They say that if they knew they still had days and weeks ahead of a deadline or an exam, they would just put off the work and go do something else. They might look at the contents long time before the assignment is due, but they simply cannot build up enough motivation then to actually get the work completed way ahead of the deadline. The severe pressure of an all-nighter seems to maximize that motivation.
While it is true that motivation for completion does increase with more pressure, and at least for exam revisions, it actually makes sense to concentrate the studying to a short while before the exam itself to maximize memorization, it does not mean that all assignments can be completed in such way. In fact, as these students would find out later on as they enter workplaces, tasks are designed to last much longer, sometimes completely unnecessarily, because there are just too many outside factors that are outside one's control. It would not do anyone any good to put off a task until that last all-nighter.
Then there are those extreme guys who argue that there are simply too much material to be learned for even one all-nighter to be sufficient. They ruin their natural circadian rhythms and sometimes even attempt to stay up days straight without sleep just to learn the endless piles of material. The rather defeatist sentiment here is quite puzzling considering classes at the LSE, for instance, are only one hour of lecture a week for about 24 weeks. The material, even not condensed, is literally only one-day's worth of notes. Where do these guys come up with the ridiculous loads of content to study from?
Harsh as it may sound, in my opinion, there is absolutely no wisdom in pulling all-nighters under any circumstances. For those who attempt a short burst of last minute cramming, they need to go relearn their basic biology to understand that human bodies are not designed to function as such. And for those who attempt to pull multiple all-nighters, they should be seriously doubting their own quality of studying. Either way, their reckless ways of "studying" may be mildly appropriate for an academic environment, but much less so outside the ivy towers...
For all the grad students who has not experienced the stress of exam preparation in years, just the looks of all the students milling about their endless amount of comprehensions and memorization must be a moment of déjà vu of their own undergrad years, when the concept of grades seems to be have been a much more important source of pride, stress, and factor in future success than they are now. Many of them, like me, are also busy digging into their books, realizing firsthand that, unlike back in those high school and undergrad days, their minds can no longer absorb large amounts of information as quickly.
That is not to say we as grad students are not studying as hard as the undergrads. However, what I find difficult to understand, starting from my days at Yale as a freshman, is why some people "pull all nighters" routinely to complete their assignments or cram for their exams. And in extreme cases, like those in the LSE library filling the room with their fragrant body odors, seem to have come to some sort of conclusion that studying through the night for a few days before the exam is not only a sign of diligence and productivity, but also pretty much the only way to "get anything done" in time for the exam itself.
This line of logic is difficult to understand for someone like me whose only all-nighters ever pulled was either for partying or playing video games. The idea of studying all night the day for a major test is simply inconceivable as I know I will simply crash and fall asleep, or at least be awake enough to suffer through a slow and inopportune brain-death in the middle of the exam. Instead of smoothly regurgitating the information one took so much time and effort to study and memorize the night before, the students who pulled all-nighters would be simply staring at their exam papers with a mind blanked out from tiredness.
And then they are those students who are argued that they just cannot concentrate and focus enough to get any studying or work done without the pressure of a severe time constraint. They say that if they knew they still had days and weeks ahead of a deadline or an exam, they would just put off the work and go do something else. They might look at the contents long time before the assignment is due, but they simply cannot build up enough motivation then to actually get the work completed way ahead of the deadline. The severe pressure of an all-nighter seems to maximize that motivation.
While it is true that motivation for completion does increase with more pressure, and at least for exam revisions, it actually makes sense to concentrate the studying to a short while before the exam itself to maximize memorization, it does not mean that all assignments can be completed in such way. In fact, as these students would find out later on as they enter workplaces, tasks are designed to last much longer, sometimes completely unnecessarily, because there are just too many outside factors that are outside one's control. It would not do anyone any good to put off a task until that last all-nighter.
Then there are those extreme guys who argue that there are simply too much material to be learned for even one all-nighter to be sufficient. They ruin their natural circadian rhythms and sometimes even attempt to stay up days straight without sleep just to learn the endless piles of material. The rather defeatist sentiment here is quite puzzling considering classes at the LSE, for instance, are only one hour of lecture a week for about 24 weeks. The material, even not condensed, is literally only one-day's worth of notes. Where do these guys come up with the ridiculous loads of content to study from?
Harsh as it may sound, in my opinion, there is absolutely no wisdom in pulling all-nighters under any circumstances. For those who attempt a short burst of last minute cramming, they need to go relearn their basic biology to understand that human bodies are not designed to function as such. And for those who attempt to pull multiple all-nighters, they should be seriously doubting their own quality of studying. Either way, their reckless ways of "studying" may be mildly appropriate for an academic environment, but much less so outside the ivy towers...
"Behind piles of books, printed documents, and empty cans of Red Bull are sometimes near non-human-like red eyes, accentuated by the unnatural puffiness of their darkened skin beneath them. Sometimes, close-distance observation is not even needed for knowing that they have been in the same spot for a long, long time...one simply has to open one's nostrils to the bodily scents emitted in the area..."
ReplyDeleteWhat you trying to say? Sounds like a normal day in med school. :P jkjk
Actually though... at least at Hopkins, many undergrads who pulled an all-nighter did so more for the social aspect of it than the studying aspect. Yeah, we're a weird bunch.
hahaha, total respect for that!
ReplyDelete