Caffeine, Chaos and More Caffeine: My Last-Minute Studying Story

In all honesty I should plan to study earlier. It always just happens the night before. My top tip: summon a group of classmates, no one wants to study alone, right? It’s not the easiest getting a group of procrastinators together, but by the time we finally meet up to study it’s normally late enough to justify a break midway to order a few pizzas – major win! 

This year has been one of the more memorable study experiences for me, the night before my algorithms and data structures test - 85% of my grade was riding on this. That alone should have scared me into not procrastinating so much! With the pressure high, and caffeine intake higher, we had the mock paper displayed on the big screen and about every lecture open across all our computers, working together not just for a solution but how we got there.  

The chaos was fuelled by enough caffeine to take out an elephant. We began, 3 languages flying about the room, mingled into one, drawing up all sorts of explanations on the board for why the answer’s this or that. If you cover a whole module in about 4 hours and a few slices of good pizza, it is the most healing experience known on earth.  

By about 1 or 2 in the morning we felt pretty confident and scattered our separate ways to sleep and reunite in the exam hall for the finale. 

This is unfortunately how I work - taking procrastination to an Olympic level. Contrary to my previous experience, I can and have got other assignments and revision done at reasonable times and I suggest starting most things more than a few days before it’s due. Make sure to have good notes or at least some notes from the lectures and find great ways to remember things I find writing stuff down in my own words works really well. I have three main tips for studying:

1. Use all the materials provided to you. There are mock tests available most topics and are a great tool to help improve. 
2. Sleep. You can’t study at your best if you're tired and sleep is good for memory so it’s important to prioritise. 
3. Study in a good environment, study with people you know won’t distract the group too much, and study in a place you associate with studying. Your body may associate your bedroom with sleep and the kitchen with eating so find a place you can be your most productive. Try writing stuff down or drawing out diagrams any way to get it to stick. 

At the end of the day do as I say not as I do, don’t leave it last minute and only in extreme circumstances pull an all-nighter, it is never worth it. 

I am a second-year computer science student here at the University of Hertfordshire. I am interested in AI and its use for certain real-world tasks which has led me to join our formula student AI team as one of the planning and control team leads, also leading to my current side project of a grid world-based maze/puzzle solver. Outside of things relevant to my studies I play lacrosse and have an interest in Pokémon and things with wings.