My credentials: I aced all my UCLA PhySci and NeuroSci exams and assignments in which I pulled all-nighters.
Rule #1: You should never pull an all-nighter. Avoid it at ALL costs.
Rule #2: IF you screw up badly and have to resort to an all-nighter, this post is for you.
First of all, you must anticipate pulling an all-nighter. If you know that you have an exam next week and you have 10-15 lectures you still have to master, you better start now because chances are, you're going to procrastinate this week and you'll have 5-7 lectures left to master AND must review all the previous chapters you studied on the day and night before the exam.
#1) Eat healthy and get lots of rest/sleep well TWO nights before the exam. That way, you can study all day and all night before the exam. I think the fact of knowing that the exam is one day away makes people very diligent in studying hardcore the day and night before. Don't eat junk food 2 days before the exam because you need to bring out your best on the day/night before and during the exam. When you're studying the day before the exam, my bets are that you are going to be munching on unhealthy snacks all day/night, and you're going to be consuming plenty of caffeine.
#2) On the night before the exam, when you see that there is no way you're going to get through all the chapters you still have to study AND all the chapters you have to review, you need to stop studying for 15 minutes and create a plan that will allow you to maximize the good use of the time that you have left. This plan should be the following:
- For the lectures you haven't even looked at yet, don't pay attention to the last lecture. Chances are, the professor rushed through it and it has stuff that won't be on the exam. If you think there are useful things on it, pay attention to the useful things. (Note: A good student goes to lecture and notes which topics the professor spent lots of time on and which things the professor simply brushed over. I put a star with a circle around it next to the things the prof spent lots of time on, a star next to the topics the prof spent a medium amount of time on, and a squiggly red line next to the stuff the professor just brushed on).
- Also for the lectures you haven't studied, skim through your notes.
- For the first few bits of the first lecture, everything is probably just introductory and review, so don't review that.
- For the lectures in between that you have studied, review all of them, but spend less time on the topics that you KNOW you'll do well on (but make sure you KNOW - not THINK - that you'll do well on them, or else that will just be a waste of time).
- If your TAs or professors give you study questions, you better have answered them already and KNOW the concepts and answers. If they gave you answers to the questions, but you haven't looked at the questions or answers, read them and KNOW them. Sometimes, these questions will be about the stuff you haven't studied or reviewed on your own yet, so they could be very helpful in helping you learn a bit about the topics in the lectures you haven't studied.
#3) 1 hour before you have to leave to go to the exam, stop studying. Get dressed, take a 20 minute nap, and drink caffeine if you've been on it all night. It's crucial to keep your caffeine high up if you've been on it all night or else your brain is going to shut down during the test -- you won't be able to think right or focus.
#4) If you think you have time, take 15 minute study breaks throughout the night. My 15 minute study breaks usually consisted of naps or rest.
#5) After the exam, go home and sleep. And shower if you had no time to shower the day/night before. And tell yourself that you're never going to do that again.
Rule #3 At all costs, DO NOT pull an all-nighter for an exam if you have another exam immediately following the first exam or is on the day after the first exam because you're definitely going to screw yourself over for the 2nd exam if you haven't studied for it. If you do have a 2nd exam immediately after the first exam, you better have already studied for the 2nd exam.
Hope this helps! :D
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