<p>Ok this is one of my first times cramming, hard, for history. Somehow procrastination seduced and beat me.</p>
<p>With so much experience in these forums, which one of these methods works out the best in terms of last minute studying for you guys?</p>
<ul>
<li>Staying up till midnight/AMish and study the night before test day</li>
<li>Sleep at the normal time but wake up early and cram on test day.</li>
</ul>
<p>I read that some CCers even pull an allnighter...sigh never tried and don't want to risk it tonight. Share!</p>
<p>I would say wake up early, because there’s more pressure and you tend to use less time for the same amount of studying, plus you’re refreshed, but make sure you wake up though because if you get lazy and fall back asleep… UH OH</p>
<p>The closest I’ve ever had to an allnighter is going to sleep at 3:50, but that’s because I slept when I got home. I still wouldn’t advise it though.</p>
<p>In my opinion, waking up early is better. You’re more refreshed and can focus a lot better.</p>
<p>Trust me, study the night before. In my experience it’s been a lot easier to remember something you studied after you’ve slept. I’ve also heard something similar to what underwaterclouds said (short term memory is put into long term memory while you sleep?).</p>
<p>Do some right before you sleep (but only about an hour or two, anything past that will be in a state of half-exhaustion that won’t work). Then, wake up early (if needed) and keep cramming. Cram until you have to put away your stuff and pray that the last 5 things you read will all be on the test.</p>
<p>Staying up til 1am is a regular thing for me, so on my cram nights, I normally just try to review as much info as possible before 2, then wake up at 5 to go over any specifics. </p>
<p>I agree that sleeping will help you retain info that you studied, but only up til the point you start to lose productivity. Then it becomes more efficient to take a nap and resume cramming in the morning.</p>
<p>Common sense. the later you study the longer it will stay in your brain.</p>
<p>that’s why i start studying for my tests on the due day mostly in the classes before the test. (if you have the test first period then you might have to wake up early though)</p>
<p>Well, I listened to you guys about studying before sleeping (also remember reading it from a cracked article) : crammed till 12 midnight and woke at 6 to cram an hour more. Got a B with the final. Pretty content since the average was a low C. </p>
<p>Didn’t read the comments, but if you study before you go to sleep your mind retains the information much better because while you are asleep your brain is busy encoding everything you experienced during the day (up to 5 minutes before you fall asleep).</p>
<p>For the week preceeding a bio test, I usually stay up until 2 or 3 to cram and reread the chapter or take online quizzes. Bio is my strongest subject, only because I care so much about it.</p>
<p>I prefer staying up late just because I don’t want to think in the mornings, but your call. I’m a night (or pre-dawn morning) person. You can always do a flash re-study on your way to school/other classes leading up to the test so you technically get two spaced-out sessions instead of one hellish morning.</p>
<p>Another thing, if there’s any delay while staying up, such as realizing that you’ve just forgotten a major homework assignment, you can then pull an emergency all-nighter, as opposed to realizing it while studying when it’s too late to make further adjustments to your schedule.</p>
<p>Get off CC the day before a big test.</p>
<p>Oh, and side test tip that few consider, if you can help it, get more sleep the night before the night before. It actually helps.</p>
<p>My commute is about half an hour, so I will cram in the car. Also during homeroom, in other classes, etc.</p>
<p>But generally I like to do most of my studying before I go to bed. I find that if I go to bed not having studied I’m so anxious I have trouble falling asleep–and then I end up going to bed late anyway!</p>