how to memorize a essay in one night

How to Memorize 10X Faster

Your Memory is Like Owning a Ferrari You Don't Know How to Drive

What’s more ridiculous – most people don’t even know they own a ferrari-like memory.

• The #1 Mistake of Memorization
• The Limits of Our Memory
• How Memorization Should Work
• Recognizing Garbage 'Memory Tips'
• Some Common 'Memory Tips' You Should Forget ;)
• Why Spaced-Repetition is Terrible (the Way Most People Use It)
• The Science of Forgetting (and Why Spaced-Repetition is Fantastic )
• The 3R's Test of More Ineffective Memory Tips
• The 5 Principles of Memorization
• The 5PM Test of Memory Tips
• Memorization Techniques of Memory Super Heroes
• Why are Visual Mnemonics So Effective?  

1. The #1 Mistake of Memorization

As a professional memory coach, people say to me all the time -  "i have a terrible memory." .

And that’s their biggest mistake, right there.

It’s the belief that memory is a thing , or a part of their brain a doctor could look at and say...

“Oh dear, that’s a small and weak looking memory – no wonder you’re forgetful”.

But memory is not a physical part of your brain.

It’s a mental function or a skill that can be learned and improved.

Think about this...

If you’ve never learned to snow ski, would you be surprised when you keep falling over?

So if you’ve never learned best-practice memorization techniques, why should you expect to remember anything fast and effectively?

Learning to ski is not magic.

You learn the best techniques and then practice them. If you’re taught well, you’re cruising down the slopes before you know it.

Unleashing the incredible natural ability of your memory is exactly the same.

You learn the best techniques and then practice them. And you can do it in very little time.

Repeat after me –

“My memory is a Ferrari, and I’m going to learn how to drive it super-fast!”

2. The Limits of Our Memory

One of the most highly cited research papers in psychology suggests the number of objects an average person can hold in their working memory is 7, plus or minus 2..

So I created a whiteboard animation video – watch it below – that challenges people to recall a list of 10 random words.

Sure enough, after 30,000 responses here are the results:

Words correct     1-4:   16%                                5-7:   62%                              8-10:   22%

Even if I gave people more words (or more chances to ‘win’), the scores would remain virtually the same.

So it seems hopeless, right? If there’s a proven barrier preventing us from remembering and recalling more than seven things, how can we possibly memorize more effectively?

This is when the video goes on to  blow the mind of almost everybody who watches it...

It gives a second list of words – 15 this time. But it uses a little bit of ‘brain hackery’ and shows the words as a visual story.

The results this time?

Words correct     1-3:    2%                                4-6:    2%                                7-9:    6%                            10-12:   17%                            13-15:   70%

That’s a simple demonstration that your memory isn’t so limited!

( For a 21 word ultra-challenge, check out this new video. )

3. How Memorization Should Work

Read any article or book on memorization and you’ll discover the three steps of memorization..

The 3 R's of Remembering are -

**Other names include Encode-Store-Retrieve or Learn it-Store it-Retrieve it

It’s nice and simple, and it makes sense – information comes in, and we store it safely in our mind until we need to recall it.

So why can we only remember about 7 random words? Where do the 3 R’s fall short?

Most people rely on their ‘ unconscious ’ memory.

They don’t intentionally do anything in their mind to memorize new things - just hope they’ll remember it almost by magic.

The 3 R’s are simple to understand, but I prefer to think of memorization in an even simpler way -

Memorization is about building connections between pieces of information in your mind.

The key words are ‘building connections’ .

I like this explanation, first because you can’t build something without thinking about it. You have to take intentional action.

Second, that action has to be focused on creating a connection or link, a bit like building a bridge.

To memorize super-effectively you need to put the 3 R’s on steroids, and consciously or intentionally build connections using some specific memory techniques.

No, it’s not magic.

4. Recognizing Garbage 'Memory Tips'

You can use the 3 r’s as a checklist to easily recognize if a particular approach to memorization is going to be effective … or if it’s completely garbage..

For example, think about an average person listening to a list of words and hoping to magically remember them.

Did they intentionally do anything to the words to encode and record them in their mind, or to build connections between them?

Have they successfully retained or stored  the words in their memory?

Not really, no.

Did they try to retrieve the words from their memory?

Yes, but without the first two steps they were inevitably unsuccessful.

It’s no surprise the average person can only remember about 7 words.

And if you asked them a day later to recall the same words, they would fail miserably.

If a person recalls 8, 9 or even all 10 words, it’s typically because they were able to somehow build connections in their mind between the words – that’s the power of recording and retaining.

5. Some Common Garbage Memory Tips

Just so you don’t waste your time on memory tips that are not going to 10x your memory....

...let’s quickly apply the same 3 R's checklist against a list of tips you’ll frequently see on study blogs everywhere.

• Drink water
• Get a good night’s sleep
• Take Omega-3
• Learn a new skill
• Lose weight
• Moderate alcohol
• Start a hobby
• Quit smoking
• Take supplements
• Listen to music

Do any of these involve encoding information or building connections within it?

Do they involve an intentional strategy to retain information?

Do they even require you to retrieve knowledge you’ve learned?

In fact, none of these ‘tips’ even mention what you need to remember or how to do it . They’re focused on having a ‘healthy brain’.

That’s fine, but it’s a bit like going to your first snow skiing lesson and the instructor says -

“OK, what’s really important is that you have skis that work properly” .

Your reaction? A deeply sarcastic -  “Thanks very much Captain Obvious!”

Yes, it’s important to have a fresh and alert body and mind, but that’s not a memory tip – that’s general advice for healthy living.

6. Why Repetition and Spaced-Repetition are Terrible (the Way Most People Use Them)

Now let’s think about another huge mistake people make..

What’s the most common way to remember something?

Repeat it over and over.

Repetition’s slightly more sophisticated cousin is called ‘ spaced repetition ’.

This basically means reviewing things less often once you can confidently remember them.

You could also call repetition ‘ practice ’, and practice is obviously valuable…

…except when you don’t do it right!

Let’s go back to the 3 R’s again -  Record, Retain, Retrieve.

The way most people use repetition is this – they practice retrieving the information over and over.

When you study with flashcards (a physical tool for using repetition) this is what you do…

“Do I remember the answer? No? How about now? No? What about this time, do I know it yet?”

Unfortunately, they don’t use an intentional strategy for recording and retaining the information.

They’re relying on ‘magic’ again!

No wonder repetition doesn’t work very well.

If you throw enough mud against a wall some of it will eventually stick…

...but your arm will almost fall off from exhaustion.

7. The Science of Forgetting (and Why Spaced-Repetition is Fantastic) 

Back in 1885, hermann ebbinghaus created the ‘forgetting curve’ that demonstrates the concept of how we forget information..

After we learn something, it naturally starts to fade from our memory over time.

We can stop this decline by reviewing or refreshing the information in our mind.

If we review again and again, the strength of the memory is increased, and it’s ‘decay’ is slowed down.

By strategically spreading out the time between review sessions, you can review the same information less often but still strengthen your knowledge.

That is what’s fantastic about spaced repetition.

You spend the majority of your time and effort focused on new information that isn’t yet glued in your memory, and less time on knowledge that’s already putting down roots in your mind.

However, strategically throwing mud against a wall is still throwing mud against a wall!

You need to use the first two R's as well as retrieval .

But spaced repetition (without encoding and storing ) isn’t the only popular approach to memorization that's less than optimal.

8. The 3 R's Test of More Ineffective Memory Tips

Before we get into what you should be doing to memorize more effectively, let’s quickly use the 3 r's test to identify some more memory tips that just don’t cut it..

These are all 'sub-optimal' memorization strategies -

Highlighting - this identifies what needs to be memorized (which is important) but doesn’t use the 3 R's.

Re-reading - this is another form of repetition. It doesn't include recording or retaining and depending how you do it, may not even include retrieval.

Re-writing - this is more active than re-reading but it's still just repetition.

Summarizing - there's generally no encoding or storage, and probably little retrieval either.

Don’t multitask - this is good advice but it doesn’t involve the 3 R's.

Play brain games - these generally aim to train your working memory, but any success doesn't transfer to improved long term memory.

Use your learning style - this is just bad advice. The concept of individual learning styles is popular but has long been shown by academic research to be a myth.

Chunking - this means breaking information into smaller 'chunks'. That's a useful first step, but the 3 R's don't get a look in.

Chew gum - yes, some people actually promote this as a memory tip. Obviously, it doesn't engage any of the 3 R's.

9. The 5 Principles of Memorization

Now you can identify poor memory techniques, how do you identify really great techniques.

They use these five basic principles.

Meaningfulness

Things that make sense are easier to remember than those that don’t.

For example, ‘bubbles’ is easier to remember than ‘sbeblbu’.

If new information is meaningless or confusing, a good memory technique will start by adding meaning . Rearranging the letters ‘sbeblbu’ to ‘bubbles’ would certainly do that.

Organization

Information needs to be well organized  in your mind to be easily accessible.

Think about finding a book in a library or a word in a dictionary. You can easily navigate around and find what you need because there’s an organized system.

Association 

Association  is all about connecting or linking new information to knowledge or facts you already have stored in your head.

A simple example is how I remember the difference between ‘ stationary ’ and ‘ stationery ’. I think of a stationary car, because ‘car’ has an ‘a’ in it, and for stationery with an ‘e’ I think of ‘letters’ which is also spelled with an ‘e’.

Visualization

Human memory is predominantly visual . Images are fundamentally more memorable than words.

If you close your eyes and remember some childhood memories – best vacations, your favorite school teacher or anything at all – you’ll notice you use visual images to recall each of those details in your memory.

Like you discovered in the video above, visual memory is incredibly powerful .

The final basic principle of learning and memorization is Attention . Clearly, you can’t remember something if you don’t learn it in the first place. This is where lack of attention comes in.

The biggest reason people ‘forget’ someone’s name is they weren’t paying attention when they were introduced. Not paying attention is a rookie mistake!

The 5 Principles of Memorization (5PM) all make sense, right?

They’re not specific techniques but you can use them (just like the 3 R's Test) to test whether a suggested technique will be effective or not.

*Watch the free video training at Memorize Academy to learn more about these principles.

10. The 5PM Test of Memory Tips 

Let's put the 5 principles of memorization to work. .

When I was a student (before I knew about best-practice memorization techniques ) my go-to memory tool for exams was acronyms.

I’d put a group of words into a list, and use the first letter from each word to create a new (usually senseless) word.

As soon as the exam started I’d write out all those silly words on the exam question paper and hope I could use them somewhere in the exam.

One of two things would happen...

...quite often I couldn’t remember all of the 'target' words each of those individual letters represented.

Second, even if I was able to use an acronym to answer an exam question, a day or two later I couldn’t recall either the acronym or the words it related to.

Using the 5PM Test you can easily see why acronyms and other popular memory techniques are ineffective, despite their popularity.

11. Memorization Techniques of Memory Super-Heroes

I spent over 30 years going to school and college (I know - crazy, right?) and I now have four university degrees to use as wallpaper.

Unfortunately, during those years I only used study and memorization techniques I’ve already mentioned as being complete garbage.

Face palm .

So what SHOULD I have been doing?

That's what we'll look at next...

12. Visual Imagery Mnemonics

When you see ‘memory athletes’ memorizing pi to thousands of digits, or remembering and recalling six decks of playing cards, they’re using visual imagery mnemonics..

Nope, it’s not magic.

I’ll briefly explain the 3 Essential Techniques , but there are many variations and different techniques for different situations.

Link and Story Method

This is a super simple technique.

You visualize an object and then create a story that connects it to the next object.

This is what I used in the video above, so you already know it’s amazingly effective.

When you make the story crazy and exaggerated it becomes even ‘stickier’ in your memory.

Memory Palace Method

Greek politicians used this technique thousands of years ago to recall the important points in their speeches.

You imagine a journey, room or building you know like the back of your hand. Choose some spots along that journey or around the room/building that stand out. At each location visualize the object you want to remember.

To recall everything, imagine yourself walking past all those locations and ‘see’ each of the objects.

There’s a brief demonstration of a simple Memory Palace in this video on how to memorize a speech, but you can use the same approach for memorizing anything.

It’s stunning how effectively this works, which is why it’s a foundation technique of memory athletes.

Substitution Method

The big question you probably have right now is –

“How do I use these techniques for abstract words?”

This is the key to making visual mnemonics work for practical things, like studying for your medical, biology or law exams.

It’s simple enough to create a mental picture of a physical object, but how do you visualize a weird sounding word, or words that aren’t nouns?

Substitution is all about transforming a word into a picture.

When you hear the word ‘ love ’ you might imagine a heart . Or you could picture a witch for the word ‘ wicked ’.

Want some more challenging examples?

Check out how I do it for names of the chemical elements in the periodic table in the video below.

I use the Link and Story Method to associate each name, but just focus on the substitution I use to 'picture' each name.

This is the same principle you can use to memorize numbers, formulas or absolutely anything .

The first step is to turn what you need to remember into a mental picture.

For step-by-step training in these 3 Essential Techniques, check out this video series.

13. Why are Visual Mnemonics So Effective? 

The success of these techniques relates back to the 3 r's of remembering. .

Substituting a word for an image records or encodes what you need to remember. Since your memory is predominantly visual, using mental pictures is ultra-effective.

Linking the different pieces of information together (with a story or familiar places) is how you can organize and retain what you need to remember.

Retrieving your knowledge is infinitely easier because of the cues and connections you’ve created.

Visual mnemonics also combine and use the 5 Principles of Memorization.

Substitution gives meaning to unfamiliar words and concepts.

The intentional and systematic approaches help organize your new knowledge.

All the information is connected together with direct associations .

Visualization is one of the main features of these techniques.

And because you need to consciously and intentionally apply visual mnemonics, they naturally require your attention .

Here’s the final reason visual mnemonics are amazingly effective – with practice you’ll get super-fast at using them.

And that’s when you’ll discover your memory really IS like a Ferrari!

*If you’d like to learn more from the world’s most viewed memory coach, check out all the available video training.

**Of course there's more to studying than just memorization. Read about the best study skills recommended by scientific research.

Tell me in the comments below how many words you remembered from the video, and if you thought this was awesome, please give it a 'like' and share it with any students you know - they'll thank you for the valuable information :)

Here are some memory FAQs you might find interesting.

+ is ‘photographic memory’ real, + what about super memorizers, + what about people who can remember every day of their life, + do ‘brain training’ games work, + why can’t i create mental pictures, do 5 hours of study in 30 minutes or less.

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How to memorise essays and long responses

Lauren Condon

Marketing Specialist at Atomi

When it comes to memorising essays or long responses for your exams, there are three big things to consider.

• Should you even try to memorise an essay?
• Do you know how to adapt your memorised response to the exam question?
• How on earth are you meant to memorise a 1,200 word essay??

It’s a lot to weigh up but we can help you out here. If you want an answer to the first question, here’s one we prepared earlier. But wait, there’s more! If you’re super keen to read more about question #2, then go ahead and click here .

And for that third point on how to actually memorise a long essay? Well, all you have to do is keep reading...

1. Break it down

Your essay/long response/creative writing piece could be anywhere between 800 and 1,200 words long. Yeah… that’s a lot. So when it comes to memorising the whole thing, it’s a lot easier to break the answer down into logical chunks and work on memorising it bit by bit.

So if you want to memorise your Discovery Essay, you might have something like this:

• Introduction
• Theme 1 with the assigned text
• Theme 1 with the related text
• Theme 2 with the assigned text
• Theme 2 with the related text

You’re going to want to memorise the paragraphs and pay attention to the structure then you can piece it all together in the exam. Having a killer structure makes it a lot easier to remember the overall bones of this situation and if you’re finding this effective, you can even break those body paragraphs down further like topic sentence > example > explanation > connection to thesis.

2. Use memory tricks

Now, there are lots of different strategies and approaches when it comes to memorising a long piece of writing. Moving in sections, you can try reading it out loud over again (slowly looking at the paper less and less) or the classic look-cover-write-check approach. If you’re really struggling, make some of your own flashcards that have the first sentence on one side and the next sentence on the back so you can test your progress.

You could also enlist the help of some creative mnemonics (memory tricks) to remind you which sentence or section needs to come next. Pick one keyword from each sentence in the paragraph and turn them into a silly sentence to help you remember the structure of the paragraph and to make sure you don’t forget one of your awesome points.

3. Play to your strengths

Not all of us are super geniuses that can just read an essay and then memorise the entire thing but we’re all going to have our own strengths. There’s going to be something whether it’s art, music, writing, performance or sport that just ‘clicks’ in your brain and this is what you want to capitalise on. So for me, I was really into debating and public speaking (hold back the jokes please) and was used to giving speeches and remembering them. So whenever I wanted to memorise a long response, I would write out the essay onto palm cards and then practice it out loud like a speech. Did it annoy my family? Yes. Was I too embarrassed to tell people my strategy? Yes. Did it work? Absolutely. 💯

Whatever your strengths are, find a way to connect them to your essay and come up with a creative way of learning your long response that will be much easier and more effective for you!

4. Start early

So you know how there’s that whole long-term/short-term memory divide? Yeah well that’s going to be pretty relevant when it comes to memorising. You’re going to have a much better chance of remembering your long response if you start early and practice it often, instead of trying to cram it in the night before… sorry.

The good news is, you still have a couple of months before the HSC so try to get your prepared response written, get good feedback from your teachers and then make it perfect so it’s ready to go for the HSC. Then, the next step is to start memorising the essay now and test yourself on it fairly regularly all the way up to your exams. This way, you have plenty of time to really lock it deep into your memory.

5. Test yourself

The final and maybe even most important step is to test yourself. And not with flashcards or the look-cover-check-repeat anymore. Once you’ve got the essay memorised pretty well, you want to spend the weeks coming up to HSC doing past questions so you can practice

• Having the essay memorised
• Being able to recall it under pressure
• Adapting it to any question so that all your hard work will actually pay off

For this to work, you really need to commit 100% to exam conditions (no cheating!) and it’s definitely worth sending those responses to your teacher to get them marked. That way, you will actually know if you’re doing a good job of remembering the core of your argument but also tailoring it perfectly to the question.

Any subject with essays or long responses can be super daunting so if you want to have a pre-written, adaptable response ready to go then it’s worth making sure you can actually memorise it for your exam. Remember to break down the essay into sections, play to your memory strengths and make sure you consistently test yourself all the way up to HSC. That should do the trick. 👌

Published on

July 28, 2017

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How to Memorize Notes in One Night: No More All-Nighters (2024 Edition)

• Post author By admin
• October 20, 2023

Unlock the secrets of last-minute memorization with our guide on how to memorize notes in one night. Master effective strategies for late-night study sessions.

Ever had one of those nail-biting situations where you’re faced with a pile of notes to memorize in just one night? It’s a scenario that students, professionals, and busy individuals often find themselves in, and it can be a real brain teaser. But don’t fret; we’re here to unravel the mystery of memorization in record time.

Imagine this guide as your secret weapon for mastering the art of last-minute note memorization. By the time we’re through, you’ll be armed with science-backed strategies and practical tips to tackle this challenge head-on.

So, let’s embark on this thrilling journey into the world of memory and discover how you can memorize notes like a pro, even when time is of the essence.

Table of Contents

The Science of Memorization

To become a master of memorization, you need to first peek into the fascinating world of memory and cognition. Understanding how your brain processes and stores information is like having a secret key to unlock the doors of effective memorization.

Memory isn’t a passive, one-size-fits-all process where you read something and magically remember it. Instead, it’s an active journey that comprises three main stages: encoding, storage, and retrieval. Let’s break them down:

This is where the journey begins. When you first encounter information, your brain decides whether it’s worth remembering. It’s like your brain’s bouncer, allowing only the important stuff to enter.

The way you engage with the material during this stage significantly affects your ability to recall it later.

Once the information gets past the brain’s bouncer, it needs a place to crash. Your brain stores it in various locations, depending on the type of information.

Some data might be in your short-term memory, like a post-it note that you use temporarily. Other bits find a comfy spot in your long-term memory, like cherished mementos stored in a memory box.

Now comes the moment of truth – recalling the information when you need it. This is like finding that specific post-it note in a sea of post-its or unearthing that precious memento from the memory box.

To effectively memorize notes, you need to actively engage with the material, making it stick during the encoding stage.

We’ll explore various techniques to do just that, ensuring that when you’re in need, your brain’s retrieval skills are top-notch. So, get ready to dive into the art of active learning and memory mastery.

Setting the Stage for Success

Now that we’ve unraveled the science of memorization, it’s time to create the ideal environment for successful note memorization.

Just like a theater performance requires a well-prepared stage, your journey to memorizing notes in one night needs the right setting for a stellar performance.

Let’s set the stage for success:

The Perfect Learning Space

Find a quiet, well-lit space where you can focus without interruptions. It’s your stage, and you’re the star. Ensure you have all your study materials – notes, textbooks, pens, and any other resources you’ll need.

Eliminate Distractions

Distractions are like hecklers in the audience, trying to steal your spotlight. Turn off your phone or use apps that block distracting websites and social media.

Let your friends and family know that you need some focused study time. This is your show, and you need to be in the zone.

Organize Your Materials

A cluttered stage can lead to chaos. Organize your study materials, so everything is within arm’s reach. There’s nothing worse than interrupting your flow to hunt for a highlighter.

By creating the perfect learning environment, you’re ensuring that the spotlight is firmly on your notes and your memorization process.

Now, let’s step into the world of active learning techniques, where you take center stage in your memory journey.

How to Memorize Notes in One Night?

Have a close look at the tips on memorize notes in one night

Active Learning Techniques

Active learning is your secret weapon in the quest to memorize notes like a pro. It’s not about sitting back and passively absorbing information; it’s about diving in headfirst and making those notes your own. Here’s how to rock it:

1. Summarize in Your Own Words

Think of it as telling a story to a friend. Take those notes and, in your own words, craft a mini-version. This isn’t parroting; it’s about understanding and owning the material.

2. Ask Questions

Be curious. Ask yourself questions about the content. Why does it matter? How does it connect to what you already know? What if you change something? Questions fire up your brain and get you thinking deeply.

3. Talk About It

If you can, chat about the material with a study buddy. Explain it to them, and let them explain it to you. Teaching someone else is like a supercharged learning session. It cements your understanding and points out any gray areas.

Active learning is like turning the dull notes into a vibrant conversation. So, get in the zone, make it your own, and see how memorization becomes a whole lot more engaging and effective.

Chunking Your Notes

Ever felt like you’re drowning in a sea of words when trying to memorize notes? Chunking is your lifeline, a memory lifesaver that turns the overwhelming into the manageable.

Here’s the scoop:

1. Chunk It Up

Imagine your notes as a long, daunting list. Now, don’t try to swallow it all in one gulp. Instead, break it down into bite-sized chunks.

These could be sections, categories, or themes. For instance, if you’re learning a foreign language, chunk new words by topics like food, travel, or animals.

2. Meaningful Clusters

Each chunk should be more than just a random assortment of information; it should have a theme or connection. This makes it easier for your brain to latch onto and remember. It’s like creating mini-stories within your notes.

3. Recall, Not Repeat

Now, when you’re memorizing, you’re not trying to recite a monotonous string of words. You’re recalling these meaningful clusters. It’s like remembering a series of short stories rather than a never-ending novel.

Chunking turns your notes into manageable, digestible pieces. It’s like breaking a big task into smaller, more doable parts. So, go ahead and start chunking – your memory will thank you!

Visualization Strategies

Let’s be real – sometimes words alone just don’t cut it when it comes to memorizing. It’s time to unleash the magic of visualization. Think of it as your secret weapon to create lasting memories. Here’s the lowdown:

1. Mental Movies

As you dive into your notes, don’t just read the words; turn them into mental movies. If you’re learning about a historical event, transport yourself there. Imagine the sights, sounds, and even the smells. The more vivid, the better.

2. Doodle and Draw

Sometimes, concepts are like jigsaw puzzles, and drawing diagrams is your way of solving them. Create visual aids like diagrams, flowcharts, or mind maps. They’re like your treasure map through the maze of information.

Visualizing isn’t about making your notes artsy – it’s about making them memorable. Your brain is wired for images, so paint your way to a perfect memory. Ready to turn your notes into unforgettable mental snapshots? Let’s roll!

Mind Mapping

If you’re a visual learner or simply love to see the big picture, mind mapping is your go-to technique for memorable notes. It’s like creating a visual GPS for your brain to navigate through your ideas. Here’s the deal:

1. Visual Brainpower

Your brain thrives on visuals, and that’s where mind mapping shines. It’s all about transforming your notes into a visual masterpiece. Start with a central idea, then branch out to related concepts. It’s like building a tree of knowledge on paper.

2. Connecting the Dots

Mind mapping reveals how different ideas are connected. It’s like connecting the dots in your notes. By seeing these relationships, you understand the material better and remember it more effectively.

3. Perfect for Visual Learners

If you’re someone who learns best when you see things, mind mapping is tailor-made for you. It takes your notes to a whole new level of understanding and retention.

So, grab a blank page, let your creativity flow, and map your way to a visual memory extravaganza! Your brain will thank you.

Flashcards and Mnemonics

When it comes to memorizing key facts or tricky terms, flashcards and mnemonics are like your trusty sidekicks in the memory game. They make complex information feel like a walk in the park. Here’s how they work:

1. Flashcards for Quick Recall

For those critical nuggets of information, create flashcards. These are like your cheat codes for memorization. Put the term or concept on one side and the explanation on the other. Then, flip through them for quick recall.

2. Mighty Mnemonics

When you’re dealing with complex data or sequences, mnemonics come to the rescue. These can be acronyms, rhymes, or funny phrases that help you remember. Mnemonics are like the secret handshakes of memory.

Think about it like this: flashcards are your speed dial to important facts, and mnemonics are your clever little memory tricks.

Together, they make memorization feel more like a game and less like a chore. Ready to unleash these memory superheroes?

Spaced Repetition

Imagine if you could make your memory work like a well-tuned clock. Spaced repetition is your secret timekeeper for effective learning that sticks around. Here’s how it’s as simple as setting a clock:

1. No More Cramming Chaos

Say farewell to those chaotic all-night cram sessions. Spaced repetition is the opposite of that last-minute frenzy. It’s like having your own memory coach guiding you.

2. Perfect Timing

Instead of hammering all your study material into your brain in a single go, space it out. Review what you’ve learned at intervals. It’s the Goldilocks zone – not too soon and not too late. Just when you’re about to forget, your memory gets a gentle nudge.

3. The Long-Lasting Memory Trick

Think of spaced repetition as the magic ingredient for a long-lasting memory potion. You won’t just remember things for the test; you’ll remember them for weeks, months, or even years. It’s the ultimate memory hack.

So, no more fretting about forgetting. With spaced repetition, you’re in control, and you’re giving your memory the gift of time. Ready to make your learning last?

The Importance of Sleep

Ever heard of a magic elixir for memory? It’s not in a wizard’s bottle; it’s your own sleep. It’s like the unsung hero of memory enhancement. Here’s the inside scoop:

1. Memory Workshop at Night

When you hit the sack, your brain doesn’t clock out. It’s more like a bustling nighttime workshop, busy organizing and storing all the stuff you’ve learned during the day. It’s like a silent librarian putting your memories on the shelves.

2. Rest, Not Rust

Sleep isn’t just about getting your beauty rest; it’s about getting your memory rest. Without it, your brain struggles to process and store information. It’s like trying to charge your phone without plugging it in – your efforts go in vain.

3. A Memory Warranty

Think of sleep as the warranty for your memory. It guarantees that what you’ve learned will be there when you need it. With enough rest, your memory becomes a well-organized treasure chest you can open anytime.

So, here’s the deal: don’t skimp on sleep. It’s your memory’s best friend. Ready to let your brain shine while you catch some Z’s?

Preparing Your Study Environment

Your study environment isn’t just a place; it’s your memory sanctuary. It can either make or break your memorization efforts. Here’s how to set the stage for success:

1. Clutter-Free Zen Zone

A clutter-free space is like a clear runway for your memory to take off. Get rid of the distractions and unnecessary items. You don’t need a jungle of pens when one will do.

2. Well-Organized Oasis

An organized study space is like a well-prepared battlefield. You should have everything you need within arm’s reach. No more frantic searches for that highlighter that’s playing hide and seek.

3. Your Personal Fortress

This space is your fortress of focus. It’s where you’re going to tackle those notes and conquer your memorization mission. Make it comfortable, well-lit, and perfectly suited to your needs.

A clutter-free, organized study environment is like the canvas where your memory masterpiece will unfold. So, prepare your sanctuary, and watch your memorization skills reach new heights. Ready to create your memory oasis?

Reducing Distractions

Distractions are like memory’s kryptonite. They can zap your focus and derail your memorization efforts. But fear not, there’s a simple strategy to save the day:

1. Digital Detox

Your phone and social media are the villains in this story. They’re the sneaky thieves of your time and attention. Put your phone on silent, turn off notifications, or use apps that block distracting websites. It’s like putting up a “Do Not Disturb” sign for your memory.

2. Friendly Heads-Up

Your friends and family are your allies, not enemies. Let them know you’re in study mode and need some focused time. It’s like creating a shield of understanding around your memory fortress.

3. The Quiet Zone

Create a quiet, focused space. It’s your memory dojo, and it should be free from noisy neighbors or any other potential distractions.

With distractions out of the way, your memory can roam free and do its thing. It’s like giving your brain a VIP ticket to memorization success. Ready to kick those distractions to the curb and let your memory shine?

Motivation and Goal Setting

Picture this: your motivation is the turbo boost, and your goals are the road signs. Together, they make your memory mission a thrilling adventure. Let’s keep it simple and snappy:

1. Find Your Why

Why are you doing this? What’s your big “why” behind those notes? It’s like setting your GPS to your dream destination.

2. Set Crystal-Clear Goals

With your motivation on high, set precise goals for your study session. What’s the finish line you’re aiming for? It could be acing a chapter, conquering those tricky terms, or mastering a complex concept.

3. Chop It into Chunks

Now, slice those goals into bite-sized chunks. Think of them as your checkpoints on this memory journey. Each one brings you closer to that glorious finish line.

4. Celebrate Like a Champ

Every time you conquer a chunk, celebrate. Treat yourself with a mini-reward. It’s like high-fiving yourself for a job well done.

With motivation and goals, you’re not just memorizing; you’re on an epic quest. Ready to turn your memory mission into a thrilling adventure? Go on, let’s do this!

Review and Self-Assessment

Memorization is not a “one and done” gig. It’s more like a workout routine – you’ve got to keep those memory muscles in shape. Let’s break it down in plain and simple terms:

1. Keep it Fresh

Don’t let your notes collect dust. Plan regular review sessions. It’s like going to the memory gym to stay in top form.

2. Test Yourself

Create mini-quizzes or use flashcards to quiz yourself. Self-assessment is like your personal coach, helping you spot areas that need a little more love.

3. Lock It In

Each time you review and self-assess, you’re adding another layer of protection to your memory. It’s like saving your progress in a video game.

This is the secret recipe for memorization that sticks around. So, don’t forget to keep your memory in shape. Ready to hit that memory workout?

How can I memorize notes overnight?

Memorizing notes overnight might sound like a daunting mission, but fear not – we’ve got a simple game plan to make it smoother. Here’s your no-fuss guide:

Know Before You Go

Before the cramming marathon begins, make sure you grasp what you’re dealing with. If something seems like a mystery, hit the books or ask a buddy for insight. Understanding is your first step.

Chop It Down

Don’t tackle the notes as a whole. Slice them into smaller, friendlier chunks. For example, historical dates can be grouped by decades or centuries. It’s like breaking a big cookie into bite-sized pieces.

Get Active with Learning

Skip the passive reading routine; it’s time for some action. Create your own practice questions or find them online. Active learning is like turning on the turbo boost for memory.

Mnemonics Magic

Mnemonic devices are like memory’s little helpers. They can be as simple as catchy acronyms or rhymes. They’re your secret sauce for remembering lists or sequences.

Break Time Matters

During your overnight adventure, remember to take short breaks. Every 20-30 minutes, stand up, stretch, and give your brain a breather. It’s like a pit stop in a long race.

The Sweet Sleep Sealer

After your night of memorization, don’t cheat on sleep. A good night’s rest is the glue that cements your newly acquired knowledge into long-term memory.

With these simple yet effective tips, you’re ready to tackle those notes like a pro. Now, go ahead and make that overnight study session a success!

Is it possible to cram in one night?

Is it possible to pull off an all-night cramming session? Absolutely. Many students have been there, burning the midnight oil to absorb as much as they can before a big test or deadline. But let’s break it down:

Cramming can deliver quick results, helping you remember facts and figures for that immediate test or paper. It’s like a short-term memory boost.

However, there’s a catch. It’s a bit like putting water in a leaky bucket – you might fill it up, but it won’t hold for long. Cramming often sacrifices understanding and long-term retention. So, it’s a short-term fix, not a long-term strategy.

In an ideal world, consistent, spaced-out studying is the golden ticket for deep understanding and lasting memory. Cramming should be your last-minute savior, not Plan A. So, the next time you can, plan your study sessions in advance to save yourself from the all-nighter stress. Your brain will thank you.

Can you memorize 50 pages a day?

Memorizing 50 pages in a single day is like attempting an incredible intellectual marathon. It’s a monumental task that might seem like climbing a massive mountain in just a day – challenging and not for the faint-hearted.

Achieving such a remarkable feat depends on various factors, including your prior knowledge of the subject, your memory capacity, and your study techniques. While some memory wizards or experts might pull it off, it’s not a realistic goal for the average person.

For most of us, effective memorization and learning take time and consistent effort. It’s more like a series of manageable steps rather than one giant leap. Breaking your study sessions into smaller, digestible portions and revisiting material regularly is a more practical and successful approach.

In wrapping up our journey on how to master the art of memorizing notes in a single night, let’s keep it as straightforward as the ABCs.

Think of it like this: You wouldn’t try to devour an entire buffet in one go, right? Memorization is quite similar. Here are the key takeaways:

• Get What You’re Memorizing: Understand the stuff before you start the cramming party. It’s like knowing the recipe before you cook.
• Cut It into Chunks: Big bites are hard to swallow. Slice your notes into smaller, digestible pieces. It’s like breaking a big sandwich into mini-sandwiches.
• Wake Up Your Brain: Instead of a snooze fest, make it a memory fiesta. Get involved with the material. It’s like dancing with the notes.
• Mnemonic Magic: Tricks are your friends. Create funny, memorable shortcuts for your brain. It’s like turning boring facts into cool stories.
• Take Breathers: Short breaks are sanity savers. They’re like pit stops during a long road trip.
• Sleep on It: After the study marathon, your brain needs a beauty sleep. It’s like putting a cherry on the memorization cake.

Remember, it’s not about how much you stuff into your brain but how you do it. So, when the midnight oil is burning, keep these tips in your back pocket and let your memory shine bright!

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it possible to memorize an entire textbook in one night.

While it’s theoretically possible, it’s highly impractical and not recommended. Efficient learning and understanding often take time and consistency.

What should I do if I have no choice but to cram for an exam the night before?

Focus on key concepts, use active learning techniques, and take short, regular breaks to maximize your chances of memorizing effectively.

Are there specific techniques for memorizing mathematical formulas or equations in a short time?

Yes, create practice problems and solve them repeatedly. Understanding the logic behind the formulas can also help with retention.

How can I stay awake and alert during an all-night study session?

Stay hydrated, take short walks, and consume light, healthy snacks to maintain energy. Avoid heavy meals or excessive caffeine, which can lead to crashes.

Is it better to memorize notes through reading, or should I try explaining the material to someone else?

Explaining the material to someone else, even if it’s an imaginary audience, is often more effective for memorization. It forces you to process the information deeply and recall it in your own words.

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How to Study the Night Before a Test

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• B.A., English Literature, Arizona State University
• B.A., Political Science, Arizona State University

There's no need to feel completely frightened if you've procrastinated until the night before a test to study. Although you won't be able to commit much to long-term memory in a one-night cram session , you can learn enough to pass the test using these techniques.

• Eat a nutritious meal and prepare a few healthy snacks so you won't need to get up later
• Set up in a comfortable spot with your study materials (pencils, note cards, highlighters) and class materials (notes, quizzes, tests, handouts, study guides)
• Focus for 30 to 45 minutes , then break for 5
• Take notes and use mnemonic devices to improve recall
• Aim for comprehension over memorization
• Explain concepts and ideas to a third party
• Get a good night's sleep

Physical Needs

The brain and the body are linked, so before you sit down to start a study session, it's a good idea to take care of your body: go to the bathroom, get some water or tea, and be sure you're dressed in a way that won't distract you (nothing scratchy or stiff). Focus and calm are crucial to studying seriously; to get your body on the same page, try doing some deep breathing and yoga stretches to help you get your mind off any other concerns. Essentially, this prep is meant to get your body to help you, not distract you, so you have no excuses to break your study focus.

Snacking during or before studying can be helpful, but choose wisely . The ideal meal is something without a lot of sugar or heavy carbs that can lead to an energy crash. Instead, grab some high-protein grilled chicken or scramble some eggs for dinner, drink green tea with acai, and follow it all with a few bites of dark chocolate. It's always easier to stay on task and process information when your brain has been given what it needs to function properly.

The other upside is that by eating something before you begin studying, you'll be less tempted to get hungry (and distracted) and quit studying early. To further head off any distracting snack attacks, be prepared ahead of time. When you go to your study area, bring a snack with you. This should be something high in nutrients and mess-free, like mixed nuts, dried fruit, or a protein bar. Avoid highly processed foods like chips, and beware of sneaky foods like granola bars that are full of hidden sugar that will leave you stranded in an hour or so.

One Step at a Time

Start by getting organized. Get all the materials that relate to the test you're taking—notes, handouts, quizzes, book, projects—and lay them out neatly in a way that makes sense to you. You might organize them by topic, in chronological order, or in some other way that works. Perhaps you like to use color-coded highlighters or stacks of notecards. The point is that there's no one way to organize: You have to find the best system that helps you make connections with the material.

By the night before a test, you should already have a good baseline of knowledge on the test topics. That means your goal here is to review and refresh. If your teacher gave you a study guide, start with that, quizzing yourself as you go along. Refer to your other materials if you can't remember an item on the guide, and then write it down. Use mnemonic devices to help you remember bits of information that you wouldn't otherwise, but try to avoid just memorizing everything: it's harder to recall straight facts than it is to have a network of connected ideas that you can rely on.

If you don't have a study guide or if you've finished going over it, prioritize notes and handouts. Things like dates, names, and vocabulary words are likely to show up on tests, so study those first. After that, review the bigger-picture stuff: material that covers cause-and-effect relationships within the topic area and other ideas that could show up on an essay question. For these, memorization is less important than having a solid enough understanding to explain it back on a written answer.

It can seem overwhelming, especially if you have a lot of material to review, so take it slowly. A good rule of thumb is to focus for 30- to 45-minute increments followed by 5-minute breaks. If you try to cram in all the information the night before the test, your brain will overload and you'll have to work to regain your focus on studying . This is why it's also useful to review for a few days before the test, not just the night before so you can spread out the material and review everything multiple times over of a few separate sessions.

Buddy System

If you really want to test your understanding of the material, try explaining it to someone who isn't in the class. Get a family member or friend and "teach" them as much as you can remember. This will let you see how well you understand the concepts and how well you can make connections (to prepare for short-answer or essay questions ).

If you have a partner or a family member to help you, have them quiz you on the material. As you go, make a list of anything you get stuck on or can't remember. Once you've been quizzed, take your list and study that material repeatedly until you've got it.

Finally, write down all your mnemonic devices, important dates, and quick facts on one sheet of paper, so you can refer to it the morning before the big test.

Final Preparations

Nothing will make you do worse on a test than pulling an all-nighter. You may be tempted to stay up all night and cram in as much as is possible, but by all means, get some sleep the night before. When testing time comes, you won't be able to recall all the information you learned because your brain will be functioning in survival mode.

On the morning of the test, make sure to eat a healthy breakfast for plenty of energy. Throughout the morning, run through your review sheet: while you're eating, at your locker, or on the way to class. When it comes time to put the review sheet away and sit down for the test, you can rest easy knowing that you've done everything possible to help your brain get through the test with flying colors.

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• 5 Things to Do the Day of the Test
• How to Study for a Midterm
• 7 Things to Do the Night Before The SAT
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• How to do a large amount of work in a small amount of time: advice from a veteran of rushing, botching, and bashing it out

1. Get in the zone

I don’t know about you, but I have a dozen little rituals I have to perform before I sit down to do a big slog of work. In general, I make it a rule to work in the library or university, because I find working at home, with all its possibilities of making and drinking tea, drifting off to watch TV, or being drawn into long conversations with my housemates, too distracting.

You should also read…

• How to Stop Procrastinating: Advice from a Champion Procrastinator
• 15 Unexpected Things About Life at University

But when I’m really up against the clock, or even about to start what I know will be an all-nighter, I prefer to be in my room, with easy access to vital things like coffee, food and the shower. (N.B. There is nothing like a shower for waking yourself up in the middle of a miserable work-session. Just don’t do what I did one particularly inauspicious Wednesday at 4am: fall asleep sitting down in it with a foot covering the plug, and wake half an hour later under a jet of now-freezing water to find that you have transformed your bathroom into a giant soapy sea).

But back to the rituals. Before I do any serious, or seriously rushed, work, I’ve got to do a number of things to ‘get in the zone’. This might sound like elaborate procrastination  — which, in reality, it most definitely is — but if I don’t do these little things, I find my concentration is poor, and my mind constantly wanders. First, my room has to be absolutely, books-in-alphabetical-order, spotless — mess is incredibly distracting, and when I’m working I want to use all the space on my desk. Plus, while you’re tidying you get to watch videos of cats falling over on YouTube. Next, I have to have a strong coffee (which I never drink more than a few sips of before remembering that I hate coffee and it gives me a headache — but it smells nice and is somehow a very reassuring thing to sit next to). Third, classical music doesn’t work for me; while I’m working, and especially at night, I find it keeps the mind sharp to blare out tragic noughties techno music. In particular, the songs of the ultimately unsuccessful Australian band Pendulum played at approximately a million decibels are so unpleasant they keep one constantly skittish with adrenaline, hammering out a thousand questionable words an hour while simultaneously imagining you’re in a warehouse rave. Finally, and most embarrassingly, I have a pair of leggings called my essay leggings that I like to wear while I’m working. They’re very comfy (and holey) and haven’t been replaced since my first year of university, because they’re somehow magically conducive to getting lots done in very little time. Now, the line between preparing oneself for work and procrastination is always thin, and one I continually find myself on the wrong side of. Your rituals might look very different to mine, and perhaps take a little less time. But if you need to do certain things to change your mindset from play to work, I’d advise you do them.

2. Work out exactly what you’ve got to do

Now that you’re sitting comfortably at your desk in your spotless room, work out exactly what you’ve got to do — and how long you’ve got to do it. Make a list of your tasks in order of priority, what they involve, the date they’re due in and how long you realistically think they’ll take. Your list might look something like this:

• Write out labels for Art coursework (2 hours, due tomorrow)
• Write self-analysis for Art coursework (3 hours, due tomorrow)
• Finish researching, plan and write History coursework essay (12 hours? 2 days? Due Friday)
• Finish Physics lab report (2 hours, due Thursday)
• Maths problems (3 hours, due tomorrow)

Now, for some of these tasks it will be absolutely essential that you hand the work in on or before the deadline . For any task that counts towards your coursework , or an exam, you’ll usually lose marks if they’re late — in my university, we would lose 5 marks out of 100 if an essay was handed in one minute after 12pm on the day of the deadline, and a further 10 if it was more than a day late. For these tasks, you absolutely can’t mess about — they should sit right at the top of your list of things to do, and be the first thing you get out of the way — and the ones you put most effort into getting right. But, even though it won’t make you very popular with your teachers, sometimes you’ve got to accept that you can’t do everything you’re expected to in a small amount of time. When I’ve got a big deadline coming up, I jettison everything else: I tell people I can’t make other commitments, even if that annoys them, and if I haven’t got time, I simply don’t do less important pieces of work. On the list above, for example, I might decide that only the pieces of coursework were really important, and that I wasn’t going to bother handing in the lab report or the Maths problems. Of course, all this is advice for an emergency situation: if you’ve got the time to do everything you need to, then deciding that you won’t is probably not the best strategic move and will mean you have to endure hours of unnecessary telling-off.

Make a timetable detailing exactly when you’re going to do each of the things on your list. Make sure you plan enough time for each task rather than being overly optimistic — you’re going to stick to this timetable no matter what . Think about the times of day when you work best, and how tired you’re going to be at various stages of the day/night/week you’re mapping out — the morning of your deadline, for example, when your eyes are itchy with tiredness and your brain about as much use as its equivalent weight in mincemeat, is probably not the best time to be proof-reading or tackling difficult Algebra problems. I study English and consequently write lots of essays, and I find that I can read and take notes at pretty much any time of day, but planning and writing are tasks I can only really do well first thing in the morning. Once you’ve made your plan, sit back and take a deep breath — it might be a rush, and you might not see sunlight for the next week, but it is possible to do everything you need to in the time you’ve got. All you need to do (and this is the important bit) is make sure you stick religiously to your timetable. Here’s how:

 4. Let things be less-than-perfect

If you’re still not happy with something near the end of the time you’ve allotted for it — tough. Finish up and leave it in its imperfect state — if you’re lucky, you might have time at the end to come back to it, but it’s much more important to stick to a schedule which will allow you to get everything done than it is to perfect one part of the task. This means not reading that extra useful-looking article, not toying with the wording in an introduction any longer, and leaving a problem you just can’t solve. Remember — when you’re working on any task, it’s completely normal that that task will feel like the most important one — but it’s important to take a step back and gain some perspective over your whole project. I’m constantly messing up because I find it really hard to leave things alone – – for example, I wasn’t happy with my dissertation last year the day before I handed it in, and decided to stay up all night before the deadline restructuring and rewriting the last 3,000 words before I’d even begun my referencing or conclusion. This meant (as I’m sure you can guess) that the section I rewrote was garbled and full of spelling mistakes, my footnotes and bibliography were a total mess and my conclusion was 5 lines long- not exactly what I’d planned when I decided to begin my noble rewriting mission, and not exactly the formula for a winning dissertation. Polished and finished, if slightly flawed, work will always make a much better impression than something messy and incomplete, even if it’s more carefully thought out — it actively irritates examiners to find silly mistakes or signs of haste in things they’re marking. Take it from me, look at the bigger picture and simply move on .

5. Be selfish

I’ve got a friend who actively refuses to make any plans other than a quick coffee for about four weeks before any deadline. Sometimes she doesn’t leave her house for days, and while she’s working she lets other people cook for her and tidy up her mess. Last year she didn’t go to her boyfriend’s birthday party because it was the week before a talk she was preparing. Now, this might all sound a bit mad, but my friend always does really, really well at everything she puts her mind to. Basically, in quite an extreme way she’s got her priorities straight — most of the time she’ll do anything for anyone, but when she’s got important work on her plate, she’ll say honestly that she needs to concentrate, and just can’t make other commitments. I, meanwhile, work in the absolute opposite way. I let friends come to visit me the week before a deadline because I don’t want to annoy them by cancelling, and am anxious about work and cranky for the whole time they’re there. I’ll go to the library with someone else but get annoyed when we distract each other. I end up getting so stressed out over all the commitments I’ve made that I can’t concentrate even when I’ve actually got time to work. I’ve come to conclude that my friend’s got it sorted. When you’ve got stuff to do, be selfish. This is one of very few chances you’ll have in your life (apart from, if you’re a girl, maybe your wedding) to be totally unreasonable, self-centred, and rude to everyone around you. Like a mad cross between Professor Snape and Kim Jong Un. Get your mum to make you dinner but refuse to sit and eat it at the table. Cancel plans, leave a mess. Refuse to read someone else’s work or do anyone a favour. Your friends might not like the new crazy you, but you’ll probably annoy them just as much by being irritable and stressed than you will by being selfish — and if you pick the latter course, you might actually get stuff done.

6. Do not entertain the thought that you might not finish

With the energy I’ve spent over the years asking for extensions, making up excuses or writing cringing apology emails to tutors and employers explaining that I just haven’t done things, I could have written novels. Stuff it, I could have written the Iliad . Extensions and the like might feel brilliant in the short term, but they’re not the solution to anything — you’ll still have to do the work one way or another, and you’ll annoy people and complicate your own life in the process of putting it off.

7. Just do the work

This is fairly self-explanatory. Though this article has tried to show that you can make things seem easier and more surmountable by organising, rationalising, and preparing, there are no magic solutions that can make you work miraculously quickly. There’s no substitute for sitting down, closing the door, turning off the internet and just doing your work . It might not be exactly fun, but it’ll feel worth it when you’re done, and then you can sleep and relax properly without feeling guilty or stressed. Got any top tips for getting things done quickly? Let us know in the ‘Comments’ section below!

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• how to memorise essays in less than a day

Author Topic: how to memorise essays in less than a day  (Read 32032 times)

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Re: how to memorise essays in less than a day

Theaspiringdoc.

What I do to memorise essays is to read it out first, then look away from the paper and recall what you just read. Do this a few times until you’ve remembered most of it. If you want do it paragraph by paragraph and then rewrite the paragraph without looking at your paper. Then read the 2nd paragraph, recite it and write the 1st and 2nd paragraph from memory and so on. This is just something that works for me!

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Hi there, i have an essay to write in class this thursday (8th March) and i've just finished writing it. II have the memory of a goldfish, so I find it really hard to memorise essays. I need some tips as to how to memorise an essay in less than 2 days.. Any tips are appreciated, Thanks

• Rewriting the text. This helps (especially handwriting) as you have to go over words repeatedly. Consciously make an attempt to read each word, like you're talking to yourself in your head.
• Recording your own voice reading it back to you and listening to this, or getting a friend to do a favour and read it to you. Even if you find your voice annoying, you get used to it after a while. It's a really good way to memorise because you can be doing other things while phrases are being dumped into your brain.

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Okay, maybe this is just specific to me, but it seriously helped especially during prelims. I was having tests every day and for my English Extension I had 1 night to remember both my narrative and essay and I did word-by-word. All i would do is print out a copy, get and empty notebook and write. I would start with my bodies as they were most vital, then I would copy it down while reading it. This really helps. Then i would flip it over and see how much i could write before forgot what I needed, so would flip it over, read it, and cover it until I needed it again. Then do the same with you other paragraphs. After that I would go back to the first and try to do the whole essay still doing the read and cover thing I had going on, I think I did that twice and at this point you can see a massive improvement in how much you remember. Keep writing it and writing it.  I would really try and stick the first sentence of every paragraph as this will jog your memory, I always found if I couldn't remember the first sentence I couldn't remember anything. Its very tedious but it seriously sticks.

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How to Write a Paper in a Night

Last Updated: January 5, 2024 Approved

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, 83% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 238,419 times.

While you may never plan for it, writing a paper in one night is a stressful experience. Not only do you need to produce a certain amount of words, but to get a decent grade you need to create an argument and address the prompt. Fortunately, by preparing yourself and efficiently planning, writing, and editing your paper, you may be able to create a good paper in a single night.

Maximizing Your Time Through Preparation

• Set aside some time for planning your paper – perhaps 25%.
• Set aside the bulk of your time for writing it – maybe 50%.
• Put aside about 25% of your time for proofreading and editing your paper.

• Most paper assignments will revolve around a single question that you’ll need to respond to – your prompt. Spend as much time as you can making sure you completely understand the prompt.
• Read the details of the assignment. For example, your instructor might have specified that you need to include a certain number of sources, meet a word limit, type in Times New Roman, and double space your paper. Make sure you follow these directions.

• If your prompt is limited to one text, focus only on that text. However, you may need to conduct some research, especially if you need to incorporate support into your paper. In this case, do a quick search on academic databases, such as JSTOR, EBSCO, and Google Scholar. Quickly skim the results to improve your understanding of the text and find good quotes to cite in your paper. Be careful when choosing your keywords!
• Read topic sentences, and then allow your eyes to skim toward specific examples in whatever you are reading. Use a highlighter to help you move through the text quickly.
• If you’re allowed to rely on and cite outside information, look for Sparknotes, Shmoop, CliffNotes, book reviews, online articles, and other sources that can briefly explain the subject matter. [3] X Research source

• Your thesis is typically one sentence that takes a clear stance on a specific argument. For example, if the paper prompt poses a question about the cause of the decline of the Roman Empire, a good thesis would state a specific cause, such as the Empire’s reliance on non-citizens in its army.
• Once you have a good thesis, write it out and keep it in front of you at all times. Your thesis is essentially your mission of the evening – prove it or fail.

• If you need, take a minute to look up specific ideas or facts you may think of while brainstorming.
• If it helps, organize your ideas in a graphic manner. Link ideas and facts together with lines, or as if they are branches or leaves on a tree. [5] X Research source

Writing a Quality Paper

• It's a good idea to write all of your topic sentences for your support paragraphs before you write your paper. This helps you understand where each paragraph should begin and end, which will make writing your paper easier.
• You should have a minimum of three support paragraphs.
• Every paragraph should have a mini-thesis/argument that supports the larger argument of your paper. This could be the same as your topic sentence.

• Write a sentence or two addressing the subject of your paper.
• Restate the thesis. Instead of rewriting your thesis, reformulate it: "The Roman Empire's overextended military was unable to defend its vast borders in Europe and Asia Minor."
• Make a final appeal to the reader to believe what you’ve said. You may want to remind the reader of some of your most compelling evidence.

• Use whatever citation method/standard your instructor requires. This could be MLA, APA, or Chicago, depending on the course.

• If it is really late, you might want to just get a few hours of sleep and wake up very early to proof and edit your paper.
• If it is somewhat late, like around midnight, you may want to take a walk, watch a TV program, and get a cup of coffee before resuming work on your paper.
• If you’re really determined to get your paper done as soon as possible, take a half hour break and grab a cup of coffee and do some light exercise to get your juices flowing.

• Do just one quick run-through to edit for clarity. For a standard 1,500-word paper, this might take 30 minutes.
• Your statements should be self-explanatory and make sense.
• Topic sentences should concisely describe the subject of the support paragraph.
• Your thesis statement should be apparent throughout the paper.
• A clear paper should flow and proceed in a logical manner. Pay special attention to missing transitions and lack of logical flow.

• While proofreading might be your final step, it is perhaps the most important one – do not neglect it.

Avoiding Distractions and Pitfalls

• Quiet areas of your campus library. Don’t hang around the coffee shop or computers where people access social media.
• A coffee shop far from campus – where you won’t run into friends.
• Your bedroom or home office. Make sure to unplug your TV and let your roommates know you’re working.

• Be careful drinking products like Eight Hour Energy.
• Don’t combine caffeinated products with prescription drugs.
• If you’re not into caffeine, consider hydrating yourself and exercising a little before and while you write. In addition to drinking lots of water, you could try adding lemon to your water, eating an apple, or increasing your protein intake. [11] X Research source

• Take a break when it seems appropriate. If you’re on a roll writing and making a lot of progress, put your break off until you run out of steam.

• Many high schools and colleges require that papers be run through a program to check for plagiarism. These programs can detect similarities to any text that's appeared online or in a published book. Additionally, the program will check your work against other papers turned in by students, both currently and in years past. Plagiarism isn't work the risk, as you'll likely get caught.

• Use a day planner to plan all of your course work. Write down due dates and other important information.
• Start your work at least two weeks ahead of time. Start researching when the paper is assigned, then begin outlining once your research is complete. [14] X Trustworthy Source University of North Carolina Writing Center UNC's on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing process Go to source

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• ↑ https://harvardwritingcenter.wordpress.com/2010/05/05/the-nuclear-option-how-to-write-a-paper-the-night/
• ↑ https://www.collegemagazine.com/write-killer-essay-day-due/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/procrastination/
• ↑ https://www.elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/culture/articles/g31312/caffeine-alternatives-wake-you-up-light-matcha-tea-fruit-yoga-water/

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How to Write an Essay in One Night: Tips and Strategies for Success

It’s the night before your essay is due, and you haven’t even started writing. It’s a situation that most students have found themselves in at one point or another. But fear not, with the right tips and strategies, you can write a high-quality essay in just one night. In this article, we will provide practical advice on how to manage your time, stay focused, and produce an excellent essay under pressure.

Valerie Green

Valerie Green is a dedicated educator who spends her time helping high school and college students succeed. She writes articles and guides for various online education projects, providing students with the tools they need to excel in their studies. Friendly and approachable, she is committed to making a difference in the lives of students.

Nick Radlinsky

Nick Radlinsky is a devoted educator, marketing specialist, and management expert with more than 15 years of experience in the education sector. After obtaining his business degree in 2016, Nick embarked on a quest to achieve his PhD, driven by his commitment to enhancing education for students worldwide. His vast experience, starting in 2008, has established him as a reputable authority in the field.

Nick's article, featured in Routledge's " Entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern Europe: Development through Internationalization ," highlights his sharp insights and unwavering dedication to advancing the educational landscape. Inspired by his personal motto, "Make education better," Nick's mission is to streamline students' lives and foster efficient learning. His inventive ideas and leadership have contributed to the transformation of numerous educational experiences, distinguishing him as a true innovator in his field.

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Preparing for the Essay

Preparing for an essay can seem like a daunting task, especially when you’re short on time. However, taking the time to prepare will make the actual writing process much smoother. Here are some tips to help you prepare effectively:

Choose a topic : If you haven’t been given a topic, choose something that interests you. This will make the research process more enjoyable and engaging. It’s also important to choose a topic that has enough research available to support your argument. If you’re struggling to come up with a topic, try brainstorming or discussing ideas with classmates or your tutor.

Conduct research : Once you have a topic, start researching. Use online databases, academic journals, and books to find sources that support your argument. It’s important to use reliable sources and to take notes on the key points that support your thesis statement. This will make it easier to organize your thoughts later on.

Develop a thesis statement: Your thesis statement is the main argument you will be making in your essay. It should be clear and concise, and it should provide a roadmap for the rest of your essay. Spend some time developing a strong thesis statement that is supported by your research.

Create an outline : Your outline should be a detailed plan of the structure of your essay. It should include your introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. The more detailed your outline is, the easier it will be to write your essay . Make sure that each section of your outline supports your thesis statement and is organized logically.

By taking the time to prepare before you start writing, you’ll be able to write a more cohesive and effective essay. Additionally, preparing will help you avoid writer’s block and make the actual writing process smoother. So, take the time to choose a topic, conduct research, develop a thesis statement, and create an outline. These steps will set you up for success when it’s time to start writing your essay .

Managing Your Time Effectively

Managing your time effectively is key to writing a successful essay in one night. Here are some tips to help you manage your time:

Break down the essay into manageable tasks: It can be overwhelming to think about writing an entire essay in one night. That’s why it’s important to break down the essay into manageable tasks. You could allocate time to research, writing the introduction, writing the body paragraphs, and writing the conclusion. By breaking the essay into smaller tasks, you’ll be able to manage your time more effectively.

Set a realistic timeline for each task: It’s important to set a realistic timeline for each task. This means allocating enough time to complete each task without rushing. If you rush, you’re more likely to make mistakes and produce a lower-quality essay. Make sure you have a good understanding of how long each task will take and set aside enough time to complete it.

Prioritize tasks: It’s important to prioritize tasks based on their importance. For example, you should start with the most important sections of the essay, such as the introduction and thesis statement. From there, move onto the body paragraphs and supporting evidence. Finally, complete the essay with a strong conclusion that summarizes your main points. This will ensure that you’re focusing on the most important aspects of the essay and producing a well-structured piece of writing.

Avoid distractions: When writing your essay, it’s important to avoid distractions. Turn off your phone and close any social media or other distracting websites. Find a quiet place to work where you can focus without being interrupted. This will help you stay focused and be more productive.

Writing the Essay

Writing an essay can be challenging, but by breaking it down into manageable tasks and using effective strategies, you can produce a high-quality essay in one night. Here are some tips to help you write your essay:

Start with a strong introduction: Your introduction should grab the reader’s attention and provide a clear roadmap for your essay. Make sure that your thesis statement is clear and concise, and that it accurately reflects the main argument of your essay.

Use clear topic sentences in your body paragraphs: Each body paragraph should start with a clear topic sentence that introduces the main point you will be discussing. Make sure that your supporting evidence is relevant and supports your thesis statement. Use transitions to connect your ideas and maintain coherence. This will make your essay easier to follow and more engaging for the reader.

Summarize your main points in the conclusion: In your conclusion, summarize the main points of your essay and restate your thesis statement. This will remind the reader of the key points you have made and provide closure for your essay. Make sure that your final statement is strong and leaves a lasting impression on the reader.

When writing your essay, it’s also important to consider the tone and style of your writing. Your writing should be clear, concise, and engaging. Use active voice and avoid using jargon or overly complex language. This will make your essay more accessible to a wider audience and help you communicate your ideas effectively.

Additionally, make sure that you’re following any guidelines or requirements provided by your tutor or professor. This may include things like formatting, word count , or specific content requirements. By following these guidelines, you’ll ensure that your essay meets the expectations of your tutor or professor.

Editing and Proofreading the Essay

Editing and proofreading are critical steps in the essay writing process. It’s essential to review and revise your work to ensure that your ideas are presented clearly and effectively. Here are some tips to help you edit and proofread your essay:

• Take a break: After finishing your essay, take a break before you start editing. This will give you some distance from your work and help you approach it with fresh eyes. When you return to your essay, you’ll be able to see it more objectively and identify areas that need improvement.
• Review for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors: Start by reviewing your essay for basic errors like grammar, spelling, and punctuation. You can use online tools like Grammarly to help you identify errors. Make sure that you’re using proper punctuation and grammar throughout your essay. Look for common mistakes like subject-verb agreement, run-on sentences, and sentence fragments.
• Check for clarity and coherence: Make sure that your essay is clear and easy to understand. Check that your ideas are presented in a logical and organized manner. Use transitions to connect your ideas and make sure that each paragraph is focused on a single topic. If you find that your writing is confusing or difficult to follow, consider revising your work.
• Seek feedback from a peer or tutor: It’s always helpful to get feedback from someone else. Ask a peer or tutor to read your essay and provide feedback. They may be able to identify areas where you can improve your essay or offer suggestions for making your argument stronger. Be open to constructive criticism and use it to improve your essay.
• Edit and revise your essay: Once you’ve identified areas that need improvement, make the necessary changes to your essay. Edit your work for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. Revise your writing for clarity and coherence. Ensure that your essay is well-structured and that your ideas flow logically from one paragraph to the next.
• Proofread your essay: After you’ve made changes to your essay, proofread it one last time. Check for any lingering errors, such as misspelled words or incorrect punctuation. Make sure that your essay is error-free and ready to submit.

Prioritizing Your Well-Being: Consider a Professional Writing Service

It’s important to prioritize your well-being, even when faced with a tight deadline. If you’re struggling to write an essay in one night and are feeling overwhelmed, consider getting a good night’s sleep instead. Sleep is essential for your physical and mental health, and it can help you approach your work with a clearer mind and more energy.

If you’re concerned about missing your deadline, consider using a professional writing service . A professional writer can help you produce a high-quality essay that meets your academic requirements and reflects your ideas and arguments. Many writing services offer fast turnaround times and can deliver your essay within your deadline.

Using a professional writing service can also give you peace of mind and reduce your stress levels. You’ll have more time to focus on other tasks or to rest and recharge. Plus, you’ll have a well-written essay that you can submit with confidence.

When considering a writing service, make sure to choose a reputable and trustworthy provider. Look for services that offer a money-back guarantee, high-quality work, and prompt communication with their clients. Read reviews and testimonials from other customers to get a sense of the service’s reputation and reliability.

Remember, your well-being should always come first. If you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed, consider getting a good night’s sleep or seeking help from a professional writing service. This will allow you to approach your work with a clearer mind and greater confidence, and ultimately produce a better essay.

In conclusion, writing an essay in one night is a challenging task, but with the right tips and strategies, it can be done successfully. Prepare by choosing a topic, conducting research, and developing a thesis statement and outline. Manage your time effectively by breaking down the essay into manageable tasks, prioritizing tasks, and avoiding distractions. When writing your essay, start with a strong introduction, use clear topic sentences in your body paragraphs, and finish with a strong conclusion. Finally, edit and proofread your essay, seek feedback if possible, and take care of your well-being. With these tips in mind, you can write an excellent essay even under pressure.

When to Submit TOK Essay? Deadlines

Understanding when to submit your TOK essay is crucial for success, as meeting these deadlines ensures you have ample time for revisions and reduces last-minute stress. This article offers a comprehensive guide on TOK essay deadlines, providing key insights from a seasoned IB writer.

What Are the IB IA Deadlines?

In this comprehensive guide, we discuss the essential dates and strategies for managing your submissions effectively. Understanding these deadlines is vital when preparing for the May or November exam sessions. From planning early and using digital tools to track your progress to communicating with teachers and handling unforeseen challenges, this article provides you with all the insights and tips you need to master the timing of your IAs.

2024 November TOK Essay Prompts | How to Write Them?

In this comprehensive guide, an experienced IB writer shares essential insights and strategies specifically tailored to mastering TOK essay prompts. From analyzing the nuances of knowledge acquisition in different areas of knowledge to considering the dynamic interplay between artistic creativity and scientific methodology, this article offers a deep immersion into each prompt.

How Long Is IB EE? Minimum and Maximum Word Count

Balancing word count limits requires careful planning and consideration of every word you write. In this guide, I’ll share strategies and insights from years of mentoring IB students to help you master the art of word count management in your extended essay.

TOK Essay Word Count. Min & Max

In this guide, we discuss the crucial parameters set by the International Baccalaureate for minimum and maximum word counts. Through the insights of an experienced IB writer, this article offers practical strategies for staying within these limits while improving the quality and depth of your essay.

How Long Is IB IA? Average IA Word Count

From my experience as IB tutor, a frequent question among students is, “How Long Is IB IA?” This question is crucial as the IA represents a significant component of the IB diploma, reflecting a student’s ability to apply classroom knowledge in a real-world context.

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How to Write a 1000-Word Essay in One Night and Not Lose Your Calm

Table of contents

It’s Sunday night, and you just realized that you haven’t even started writing your 1000-word essay that is due on Monday. How are you going to write it in one night, you wonder.

What follows is panic as you rack your brain, wondering where and how to begin.

Writing is an art. Every word you write mirrors your thoughts and ideas on paper.

Similarly, how you express these words is a way of expressing yourself. While essay writing is not rocket science, it certainly isn’t something you should take lightly as well.

The good news is there is hope, and you can write a 1,000-word essay in one night. In this article, you will learn how.

Writing a 1,000-word Essay in One Night: 4 Preparation Hacks

Preparation is key, especially when you’re expected to write an essay at the last moment. Let’s take a look at four tips to help you prepare for the long night.

#1. Plan your time

Time management is a high priority when you have only a few hours to write your essay. Thus, use your maximum efficiency and your fullest potential to complete the essay on time.

If you plan to just sit down and start writing, you may not be able to track your progress on each interval and see which section of the essay you spent the most time on.

Hence, you should base your essay portions on specific time intervals. For example, break your time into 45 mins and plan to complete each task of the paper in that time frame.

Keep one hour spare in the end to revise, edit, add visuals, recheck arguments, proofread, or even just to read it a couple of times to check the flow of the essay.

#2. Read the prompt carefully

It is critical to read the essay prompt carefully and not miss a single detail present in it, as there might be multiple important pieces of information that are required to be adhered to for completing the essay.

Guidelines like the number of sources to use, how to format the essay according to the professor’s requirement, writing in a particular tone and style, the target audience, or even just understanding the essay topic diligently are fundamental to follow to be able to craft a quality essay without any errors.

The worst thing that can happen after writing and completing your assignment is to learn that you deciphered the prompt incorrectly, or got confused with the type of expectations your professor had for this essay assignment, and now have nothing to submit.

So, read the prompt carefully.

Here’s a useful video by Nicolas Weiss on reading essay prompts

#3. Use reliable sources for notes

As you start framing your essay, remember to refer to credible and reliable sources for your note-taking process.

Citing down your references in a bibliography is a must-needed step in your essay writing and forgetting to complete this step will bring down your grades drastically.

Having credible references and sources makes your essay seem completely thorough and well-researched, as well as gives your content more authority and authenticity.

#4. Create a rough outline of the structure

Before you begin to write your essay, build a rough outline of the important points you need to take note of, the short forms that will be used in the content, and the basic structure of your essay.

It’s important to also note down how you will introduce your essay , your thesis statement, all the points that have to be added in each paragraph, and the evidence that supports these claims.

A well-written outline gives the essay a structured flow, organized points, and no extra fluff, and makes it easier for the readers, or in this case, your professors, to read and understand your essay easily.

Additionally, the outline also helps the writer to not forget important points and arguments that were to be made in the essay.

Here’s How You Can Write a 1,000-word Essay in One Night

Now that we know that preparing before executing is highly primal when, you have to write your essay in one night. Let’s see how we can write a 1000-word essay in one night and do a good job at it.

Write in an appropriate environment

Usually, people don't think too much about the space in which they sit to work . But this is a very important step for writers to take care of to execute flawless and organized pieces of writing.

To write quality articles, blogs , essays, etc., choose an appropriate, peaceful, and distraction-free environment.

Create a mood around you where you are motivated to work so that you can hear your thoughts and express them in words, as well as come up with ideas that can be written down in the best way.

A library or a study nook at your home is the best place to concentrate thoroughly on writing assignments. Switch off your phone, log out of your social media, grab a cup of your favorite beverage, focus on your approach, and write away.

Create an effective plan

It is very important to have a plan to succeed in a task without any complications or errors. Having an effective and smart plan will make any challenging, confusing, or complex task more organized , thorough, and easy to execute.

So, before you begin your essay, think of the following topics, and plan out your entire process of writing the essay:

• The word limit or essay length ;
• Creating the thesis statement;
• Major topics and points to be covered in the essay;
• A basic outline of the essay’s structure;
• Examples, references, evidence to cite;
• Images, GIFS, infographics, or videos to embed (if needed);
• Suggestions and recommendations.

Once you plan out your essay by having the answers to all these questions, it becomes much easier to frame the entire essay in a short time.

Do thorough research for your essay

Writing a 1000-word essay for your assignment without doing any full-fledged research on your topic, will just nudge you into failure.

Researching to write content that is fresh, informative, and credible is the only way that your professor will deem your essay as a quality piece of writing. Furthermore, you need data and references to back all your arguments and claims.

For example, when you research a topic, you come across multiple sites and reliable sources where you can take out necessary information and data to frame your essay.

As you go further, when you start writing down your points and details that make the content of your paper, you might need to go back to your references sometime or other for help or confirmation.

Place realistic and attainable goals

Don't think about trying to finish your essay in 30 minutes. It is going to end up being poorly executed, with no flow or organized arguments.

Additionally, you would probably have an essay riddled with silly spelling mistakes and grammatical errors that could have been avoided if you took advantage of the entire time you have on your hands to work on drafting a perfect, well-researched, top-quality essay.

Aim for realistic and achievable targets that can be accomplished by you. Sort of a specific time frame to complete the task you’ve assigned yourself for each of these intervals. Take a short break after finishing major portions of your essay, to avoid being stressed or overburdened.

Never forget to edit and proofread

Never leave proofreading your essay as a last resort. It shouldn’t be something that you will only do if you have enough time and energy after working on the entire essay.

Proofreading is a must because when you revise and re-read your essay, you will end up finding mistakes or slip-ups that you could have made while writing in a hurry.

These slip-ups would eventually bring down the entire purpose of writing the essay and decrease your chances of getting a good grade. That is why, resolving these issues after proofreading is critical, to laying out a perfect and flawless essay assignment.

Ideally, you should plan out your essay in such a way that there is enough time, in the end, to revise and edit, wherever necessary.

In conclusion, it is best not to panic and rush the process since writing your essay assignment in one night with a composed head will help immensely in thinking straight and completing a great paper.

Furthermore, use these practical tips and tricks to get the best results out of our guide to write a 1000-word essay in one night and not lose your calm.

If you’re unable to concentrate and need urgent essay writing service , we’re glad to assist. Writers Per Hour’s team of urgent essay writers knows what it takes to write essays quickly without compromising on quality.

So, before you lose your calm, write to us and let our professional essay writers write your 1,000-word essay in one night and help you get the grades you desire.

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How to Write Your College Essay in Just One Night

(a.k.a.: The “Break in case of emergency” essay)

This is for those of you who are experiencing extreme writers block, have procrastinated ‘til the last minute, or are feeling just plain lazy. I love you and I have been you.

Oh, and this is for students who have not experienced significant challenges and do not know what they want to study in college. If you have experienced challenges or you do know, click here.

Here we go!

First, take 15 minutes to do the Objects and Values Exercises.

Next, get a blank sheet of paper, draw a vertical line down the middle, at the top of the right column write the word “My values,” and list your 3-5 most important values, with space in between. (Example: “knowledge” – skip an inch – “nature”– skip an inch – “music.”)

In the left column, beside each value, describe an image that shows how you developed that value. (Example: beside the value of “knowledge” you write “I sometimes stay up ‘til 3am surfing obscure Wikipedia articles” or beside the value of “nature” you write “when I go camping alone with just a tent, my journal and five lbs of trail mix.” You get the idea. Everything in the left column should be visual, like a snapshot or scene from a movie.

Put your little movies in order-–chronological often works-–and describe each image or movie in a brief paragraph. (Important: don’t mention your value.)

Write transitions between the ideas so there is some sense of flow. This part will take the longest. (Hint: if you write them chronologically you can use basic transitions such as “A few years later…” or “When I entered high school…” as placeholders and tweak later.)

At the end, describe some of the values that you’ll carry with you into and beyond college no matter what career you choose.

For examples, check out the Scrapbook Essay or the Five Families Essay.

And if you're not panicked and want to do this essay thing in a more carefully thought-out way, check out the one-hour guide to the college essay .

Another great read:  5 Essential Elements of a Great College Essay

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How to Write an Essay in One Night

If you are reading this article, chances are, you are in trouble wondering how to write a 5000 word essay in one night. Perhaps, you have been procrastinating until the very last minute, or were buried deep under other work, or weren’t able to dedicate your time fully to your writing for some other purpose. The outcome is the same – you are supposed to hand your research paper in tomorrow, and you are still at square one.

You have just one night to begin and complete the essay, so what are you going to do? One thing is for sure – you are not getting any sleep tonight. As for all the rest, we are going to cover it in this article.

How to Write a Research Paper in One Night

If you have an urgent assignment due the tomorrow morning, you will have to work for the whole night. When writing a paper in one night, you will be pressed not just by the lack of time, but by exhaustion and sleepiness as well. All this means that you should pay extra attention not just to the actual writing techniques, but to how you organize the very writing process as well.

• Stock up on healthy snacks for studying . You are going to need some energy to keep you going through the night. Being distracted by hunger isn’t very conducive for the efficient work. At the same time, it isn’t the best idea to take long breaks to have a full-fledged meal, so snacks are the way to go. Nuts are especially recommended – they give plenty of energy without causing a sugar rush that may leave you exhausted after it passes;
• Use the power of caffeine. Whether you like coffee and energy drinks, you need them to keep you awake and aware throughout the night. So get a lot of it. Just make sure to be careful drinking concentrated energy drinks and don’t mix them with prescription drugs;
• Take breaks. It may seem counterintuitive when you need to get a job done as fast as possible, but experience shows us that occasional short breaks more than compensate for the time you ‘lose’ on them. The longer you work, the less efficiently your brain functions. There comes a time when you simply stare at the screen, unable to think about another word to type. Short breaks (preferably combined with bouts of physical exercise) won’t restore your brain to full capacity, but they will still recharge you a little bit and make it easier to go on;
• Keep yourself hydrated. Those wondering how to write an essay in one night tend to forget that the process is not just about having tons of coffee and eating snacks. It’s about keeping your body and brain hydrated. Water is essential for proper functioning of the brain and your energy levels, and caffeinated drinks cannot serve as a replacement. So, get a bottle of water and keep it close at hand;
• Make sure you don’t get distracted. Writing at night has its benefits, as most people are asleep, and there are fewer things in your immediate vicinity to call for your attention. Nevertheless, you should take care to eliminate all the potential distractions, especially those that you know are attractive for you. Turn off your smartphone, disable notifications in social media and email. Even better, use some blocking software like RescueTime to prevent yourself from visiting your favorite websites – you are going to work using the Internet, so these are especially dangerous for your concentration.

How to Write Research Paper in One Night: 5 Preparation Tips to Follow at Night

You have to submit your paper in the morning. This means that you have a very limited amount of time to complete your job. Each minute has to be used to the fullest. This means that some preparation is in order – if you just plunge into writing, at the very best, your paper will be unreadable. At worst, you won’t be able to finish it on time at all.

• Brace yourself for the worst. If you’ve done absolutely no reading on the subject matter of your paper, consider accepting the fact that you won’t be able to hand the paper in tomorrow. Contact your instructor and inform them that your paper will be late. In many ways, it is preferable to simply not handing it in because you weren’t able to complete the job on time. Another alternative is to submit a poorly written paper because it is very likely to be the only thing you can churn out in just 1 night. It is not the end of the world, nor it is an easy way out – it is just a way of cutting your losses when you still have time to do it with dignity;

• Plan your time. As you have very little time, you have to use it to the maximum efficiency. To do so, you have to prepare a plan and stick to it. If you simply sit down and get to work, you will not be able to track your progress and see that, for example, you are taking too long at a certain stage and won’t be able to finish on time if you continue in this fashion. Break your time into 30-minute intervals and evaluate how much of if you need for each task. Try to have at least an hour unassigned to anything because some steps will inevitably take longer than planned.
• Take your time reading the prompt. You are in a hurry, but not reading the prompt attentively can lead to catastrophic results – you may miss some important details (like the need to use a certain number of sources) or misunderstand the question entirely. It is unpleasant enough in normal circumstances, but right now, you cannot afford to find out that the essay you’ve just finished was written using a wrong prompt. Ideally, you should write down the main points of the prompt in your own words so that you can refer to them later on – this way, you can be sure you’ve understood everything correctly;
• Make sure you understand the style and formatting guidelines. Be too quick to read them, and you may realize too late that you’ve gotten things wrong and had to single space your paper and now you have to write as much as you’ve already done, but there is no time to do so;
• Take notes from reliable sources. If you’ve done some reading and have at least a basic acquaintance with the topic, organize the books and sources you have when dealing with the overnight essay. Skim over them and make notes, marking down fragments you want to cite.

6 Writing Tips to Prepare a Well-Written Paper

Writing an urgent paper isn’t much different from writing when you have all the time in the world – you just have to work fast and don’t have the right to make any mistakes. This means that you should carefully divide your work into stages and avoid dispersing your attention. Do one thing at a time, never getting distracted either by things outside your job or by other stages.

#1. Don’t even consider plagiarizing. A lot of students looking for the best solutions on how to write an essay overnight feel the temptation to copy-paste somebody else’s works or fragments of those. Wrong! No matter how tough the assignment gets, using texts written by fellow students is a crime. We live in times when even middle school English teachers use plagiarism checkers when looking through the works of their students. In most cases, plagiarism is immediately obvious even without specialized software, but even if it isn’t, any checker will immediately spot your attempt at copy/paste. You will get caught and some consequences of plagiarism are possible. At the very best, it will get on your record. At worst, you will be expelled;

#2. Think about a thesis statement. This is a key to any successful paper. Without a clear, concise and definite thesis statement, an assignment risks turning out to be weak, unfocused, and vague. Think about the main argument you make in your paper and try to formulate it in a single sentence. If you have problems doing this, it means that you haven’t fully understood what is required of you. Therefore, you have to spend some time clarifying your point. After you manage to create a thesis statement, write it down on a separate sheet of paper. Keep it in front of you at all times so that you don’t stray away from your primary topic;

#3. Do a short brainstorming session. Write down any ideas that can help you support your argument. This is a good time to start marking down the quotes and references you are going to make. Write down everything that comes into your head – don’t try to separate good ideas from bad ones at this point, you don’t have to use everything you come up with right now;

#4. Prepare an outline, i.e., a detailed plan for your paper. It should include, in short form, everything you intend to write in every part of your essay: how you introduce the topic, your thesis statement, points to be mentioned in each paragraph along with the accompanying supporting evidence, how you want to sum things up in the conclusion, and so on. A well-written outline means that when it comes to writing per se, you will simply have to elaborate on each point to get a full-fledged paper;

#5. Be concise. Whether you have a word count to fill in or not, padding your text won’t help you. If you simply have to drive your point home, you don’t have time for long-winded phrases, especially if you’re not really sure how to finish an assignment in one night . If you have to achieve a certain word count, your instructor will immediately spot your attempts at bloating your paper with filler, which can lead to a worse grade than you can receive if you write my essay properly. Short and simple sentences aren’t a sign of low intelligence – if you successfully express your thoughts, it is the sign of thinking that cuts to the chase and eliminates unnecessary details;

#6. Proofread. Don’t treat proofreading as something that you will do if you have some time and energy left after you’ve finished with the “real work”. Proofreading is just as a real work as gathering sources and writing, especially if you write in such a hurry. When you have a few hours to complete a paper, you are bound to make mistakes that can seriously decrease your chances of getting a good grade. Ideally, you should let your paper lie a little bit before you start proofreading it. Obviously, this is not the situation when it is possible, so use whatever time is left to do it. Check your formatting for compliance with college guidelines and your assigned formatting style. Check your style – if you find colloquialisms, jargon or slang, eliminate it. Avoid passive voice – in most cases, it makes speech lifeless and hard to read.

We hope these tips will help you deal with your situation right now and emerge from this crisis with flying colors. And perhaps, the memory of this experience will be enough to prevent you from procrastinating the next time you have to write an important assignment!

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Author: Patricia Jenkins

Patricia Jenkins is the senior writing advisor at FastEssay blog for international students that seek quick paper assistance. In her blog, Patricia shares useful tips on productivity, writing, research, references. Sometimes Patricia goes off topic by sharing her personal experience peppered with lively humor and healthy irony. View all posts by Patricia Jenkins

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Night by Elie Wiesel Analysis

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Published: Mar 13, 2024

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Crying Myself to Sleep on the Biggest Cruise Ship Ever

Seven agonizing nights aboard the Icon of the Seas

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Updated at 2:44 p.m. ET on April 6, 2024.

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MY FIRST GLIMPSE of Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas, from the window of an approaching Miami cab, brings on a feeling of vertigo, nausea, amazement, and distress. I shut my eyes in defense, as my brain tells my optic nerve to try again.

The ship makes no sense, vertically or horizontally. It makes no sense on sea, or on land, or in outer space. It looks like a hodgepodge of domes and minarets, tubes and canopies, like Istanbul had it been designed by idiots. Vibrant, oversignifying colors are stacked upon other such colors, decks perched over still more decks; the only comfort is a row of lifeboats ringing its perimeter. There is no imposed order, no cogent thought, and, for those who do not harbor a totalitarian sense of gigantomania, no visual mercy. This is the biggest cruise ship ever built, and I have been tasked with witnessing its inaugural voyage.

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“Author embarks on their first cruise-ship voyage” has been a staple of American essay writing for almost three decades, beginning with David Foster Wallace’s “A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again,” which was first published in 1996 under the title “Shipping Out.” Since then, many admirable writers have widened and diversified the genre. Usually the essayist commissioned to take to the sea is in their first or second flush of youth and is ready to sharpen their wit against the hull of the offending vessel. I am 51, old and tired, having seen much of the world as a former travel journalist, and mostly what I do in both life and prose is shrug while muttering to my imaginary dachshund, “This too shall pass.” But the Icon of the Seas will not countenance a shrug. The Icon of the Seas is the Linda Loman of cruise ships, exclaiming that attention must be paid. And here I am in late January with my one piece of luggage and useless gray winter jacket and passport, zipping through the Port of Miami en route to the gangway that will separate me from the bulk of North America for more than seven days, ready to pay it in full.

The aforementioned gangway opens up directly onto a thriving mall (I will soon learn it is imperiously called the “Royal Promenade”), presently filled with yapping passengers beneath a ceiling studded with balloons ready to drop. Crew members from every part of the global South, as well as a few Balkans, are shepherding us along while pressing flutes of champagne into our hands. By a humming Starbucks, I drink as many of these as I can and prepare to find my cabin. I show my blue Suite Sky SeaPass Card (more on this later, much more) to a smiling woman from the Philippines, and she tells me to go “aft.” Which is where, now? As someone who has rarely sailed on a vessel grander than the Staten Island Ferry, I am confused. It turns out that the aft is the stern of the ship, or, for those of us who don’t know what a stern or an aft are, its ass. The nose of the ship, responsible for separating the waves before it, is also called a bow, and is marked for passengers as the FWD , or forward. The part of the contemporary sailing vessel where the malls are clustered is called the midship. I trust that you have enjoyed this nautical lesson.

I ascend via elevator to my suite on Deck 11. This is where I encounter my first terrible surprise. My suite windows and balcony do not face the ocean. Instead, they look out onto another shopping mall. This mall is the one that’s called Central Park, perhaps in homage to the Olmsted-designed bit of greenery in the middle of my hometown. Although on land I would be delighted to own a suite with Central Park views, here I am deeply depressed. To sail on a ship and not wake up to a vast blue carpet of ocean? Unthinkable.

Allow me a brief preamble here. The story you are reading was commissioned at a moment when most staterooms on the Icon were sold out. In fact, so enthralled by the prospect of this voyage were hard-core mariners that the ship’s entire inventory of guest rooms (the Icon can accommodate up to 7,600 passengers, but its inaugural journey was reduced to 5,000 or so for a less crowded experience) was almost immediately sold out. Hence, this publication was faced with the shocking prospect of paying nearly $19,000 to procure for this solitary passenger an entire suite—not including drinking expenses—all for the privilege of bringing you this article. But the suite in question doesn’t even have a view of the ocean! I sit down hard on my soft bed. Nineteen thousand dollars for this .

The viewless suite does have its pluses. In addition to all the Malin+Goetz products in my dual bathrooms, I am granted use of a dedicated Suite Deck lounge; access to Coastal Kitchen, a superior restaurant for Suites passengers; complimentary VOOM SM Surf & Stream (“the fastest Internet at Sea”) “for one device per person for the whole cruise duration”; a pair of bathrobes (one of which comes prestained with what looks like a large expectoration by the greenest lizard on Earth); and use of the Grove Suite Sun, an area on Decks 18 and 19 with food and deck chairs reserved exclusively for Suite passengers. I also get reserved seating for a performance of The Wizard of Oz , an ice-skating tribute to the periodic table, and similar provocations. The very color of my Suite Sky SeaPass Card, an oceanic blue as opposed to the cloying royal purple of the standard non-Suite passenger, will soon provoke envy and admiration. But as high as my status may be, there are those on board who have much higher status still, and I will soon learn to bow before them.

In preparation for sailing, I have “priced in,” as they say on Wall Street, the possibility that I may come from a somewhat different monde than many of the other cruisers. Without falling into stereotypes or preconceptions, I prepare myself for a friendly outspokenness on the part of my fellow seafarers that may not comply with modern DEI standards. I believe in meeting people halfway, and so the day before flying down to Miami, I visited what remains of Little Italy to purchase a popular T-shirt that reads DADDY’S LITTLE MEATBALL across the breast in the colors of the Italian flag. My wife recommended that I bring one of my many T-shirts featuring Snoopy and the Peanuts gang, as all Americans love the beagle and his friends. But I naively thought that my meatball T-shirt would be more suitable for conversation-starting. “Oh, and who is your ‘daddy’?” some might ask upon seeing it. “And how long have you been his ‘little meatball’?” And so on.

I put on my meatball T-shirt and head for one of the dining rooms to get a late lunch. In the elevator, I stick out my chest for all to read the funny legend upon it, but soon I realize that despite its burnished tricolor letters, no one takes note. More to the point, no one takes note of me. Despite my attempts at bridge building, the very sight of me (small, ethnic, without a cap bearing the name of a football team) elicits no reaction from other passengers. Most often, they will small-talk over me as if I don’t exist. This brings to mind the travails of David Foster Wallace , who felt so ostracized by his fellow passengers that he retreated to his cabin for much of his voyage. And Wallace was raised primarily in the Midwest and was a much larger, more American-looking meatball than I am. If he couldn’t talk to these people, how will I? What if I leave this ship without making any friends at all, despite my T-shirt? I am a social creature, and the prospect of seven days alone and apart is saddening. Wallace’s stateroom, at least, had a view of the ocean, a kind of cheap eternity.

Worse awaits me in the dining room. This is a large, multichandeliered room where I attended my safety training (I was shown how to put on a flotation vest; it is a very simple procedure). But the maître d’ politely refuses me entry in an English that seems to verge on another language. “I’m sorry, this is only for pendejos ,” he seems to be saying. I push back politely and he repeats himself. Pendejos ? Piranhas? There’s some kind of P-word to which I am not attuned. Meanwhile elderly passengers stream right past, powered by their limbs, walkers, and electric wheelchairs. “It is only pendejo dining today, sir.” “But I have a suite!” I say, already starting to catch on to the ship’s class system. He examines my card again. “But you are not a pendejo ,” he confirms. I am wearing a DADDY’S LITTLE MEATBALL T-shirt, I want to say to him. I am the essence of pendejo .

Eventually, I give up and head to the plebeian buffet on Deck 15, which has an aquatic-styled name I have now forgotten. Before gaining entry to this endless cornucopia of reheated food, one passes a washing station of many sinks and soap dispensers, and perhaps the most intriguing character on the entire ship. He is Mr. Washy Washy—or, according to his name tag, Nielbert of the Philippines—and he is dressed as a taco (on other occasions, I’ll see him dressed as a burger). Mr. Washy Washy performs an eponymous song in spirited, indeed flamboyant English: “Washy, washy, wash your hands, WASHY WASHY!” The dangers of norovirus and COVID on a cruise ship this size (a giant fellow ship was stricken with the former right after my voyage) makes Mr. Washy Washy an essential member of the crew. The problem lies with the food at the end of Washy’s rainbow. The buffet is groaning with what sounds like sophisticated dishes—marinated octopus, boiled egg with anchovy, chorizo, lobster claws—but every animal tastes tragically the same, as if there was only one creature available at the market, a “cruisipus” bred specifically for Royal Caribbean dining. The “vegetables” are no better. I pick up a tomato slice and look right through it. It tastes like cellophane. I sit alone, apart from the couples and parents with gaggles of children, as “We Are Family” echoes across the buffet space.

I may have failed to mention that all this time, the Icon of the Seas has not left port. As the fiery mango of the subtropical setting sun makes Miami’s condo skyline even more apocalyptic, the ship shoves off beneath a perfunctory display of fireworks. After the sun sets, in the far, dark distance, another circus-lit cruise ship ruptures the waves before us. We glance at it with pity, because it is by definition a smaller ship than our own. I am on Deck 15, outside the buffet and overlooking a bunch of pools (the Icon has seven of them), drinking a frilly drink that I got from one of the bars (the Icon has 15 of them), still too shy to speak to anyone, despite Sister Sledge’s assertion that all on the ship are somehow related.

Kim Brooks: On failing the family vacation

The ship’s passage away from Ron DeSantis’s Florida provides no frisson, no sense of developing “sea legs,” as the ship is too large to register the presence of waves unless a mighty wind adds significant chop. It is time for me to register the presence of the 5,000 passengers around me, even if they refuse to register mine. My fellow travelers have prepared for this trip with personally decorated T-shirts celebrating the importance of this voyage. The simplest ones say ICON INAUGURAL ’24 on the back and the family name on the front. Others attest to an over-the-top love of cruise ships: WARNING! MAY START TALKING ABOUT CRUISING . Still others are artisanally designed and celebrate lifetimes spent married while cruising (on ships, of course). A couple possibly in their 90s are wearing shirts whose backs feature a drawing of a cruise liner, two flamingos with ostensibly male and female characteristics, and the legend “ HUSBAND AND WIFE Cruising Partners FOR LIFE WE MAY NOT HAVE IT All Together BUT TOGETHER WE HAVE IT ALL .” (The words not in all caps have been written in cursive.) A real journalist or a more intrepid conversationalist would have gone up to the couple and asked them to explain the longevity of their marriage vis-à-vis their love of cruising. But instead I head to my mall suite, take off my meatball T-shirt, and allow the first tears of the cruise to roll down my cheeks slowly enough that I briefly fall asleep amid the moisture and salt.

I WAKE UP with a hangover. Oh God. Right. I cannot believe all of that happened last night. A name floats into my cobwebbed, nauseated brain: “Ayn Rand.” Jesus Christ.

I breakfast alone at the Coastal Kitchen. The coffee tastes fine and the eggs came out of a bird. The ship rolls slightly this morning; I can feel it in my thighs and my schlong, the parts of me that are most receptive to danger.

I had a dangerous conversation last night. After the sun set and we were at least 50 miles from shore (most modern cruise ships sail at about 23 miles an hour), I lay in bed softly hiccupping, my arms stretched out exactly like Jesus on the cross, the sound of the distant waves missing from my mall-facing suite, replaced by the hum of air-conditioning and children shouting in Spanish through the vents of my two bathrooms. I decided this passivity was unacceptable. As an immigrant, I feel duty-bound to complete the tasks I am paid for, which means reaching out and trying to understand my fellow cruisers. So I put on a normal James Perse T-shirt and headed for one of the bars on the Royal Promenade—the Schooner Bar, it was called, if memory serves correctly.

I sat at the bar for a martini and two Negronis. An old man with thick, hairy forearms drank next to me, very silent and Hemingwaylike, while a dreadlocked piano player tinkled out a series of excellent Elton John covers. To my right, a young white couple—he in floral shorts, she in a light, summery miniskirt with a fearsome diamond ring, neither of them in football regalia—chatted with an elderly couple. Do it , I commanded myself. Open your mouth. Speak! Speak without being spoken to. Initiate. A sentence fragment caught my ear from the young woman, “Cherry Hill.” This is a suburb of Philadelphia in New Jersey, and I had once been there for a reading at a synagogue. “Excuse me,” I said gently to her. “Did you just mention Cherry Hill? It’s a lovely place.”

As it turned out, the couple now lived in Fort Lauderdale (the number of Floridians on the cruise surprised me, given that Southern Florida is itself a kind of cruise ship, albeit one slowly sinking), but soon they were talking with me exclusively—the man potbellied, with a chin like a hard-boiled egg; the woman as svelte as if she were one of the many Ukrainian members of the crew—the elderly couple next to them forgotten. This felt as groundbreaking as the first time I dared to address an American in his native tongue, as a child on a bus in Queens (“On my foot you are standing, Mister”).

“I don’t want to talk politics,” the man said. “But they’re going to eighty-six Biden and put Michelle in.”

I considered the contradictions of his opening conversational gambit, but decided to play along. “People like Michelle,” I said, testing the waters. The husband sneered, but the wife charitably put forward that the former first lady was “more personable” than Joe Biden. “They’re gonna eighty-six Biden,” the husband repeated. “He can’t put a sentence together.”

After I mentioned that I was a writer—though I presented myself as a writer of teleplays instead of novels and articles such as this one—the husband told me his favorite writer was Ayn Rand. “Ayn Rand, she came here with nothing,” the husband said. “I work with a lot of Cubans, so …” I wondered if I should mention what I usually do to ingratiate myself with Republicans or libertarians: the fact that my finances improved after pass-through corporations were taxed differently under Donald Trump. Instead, I ordered another drink and the couple did the same, and I told him that Rand and I were born in the same city, St. Petersburg/Leningrad, and that my family also came here with nothing. Now the bonding and drinking began in earnest, and several more rounds appeared. Until it all fell apart.

Read: Gary Shteyngart on watching Russian television for five days straight

My new friend, whom I will refer to as Ayn, called out to a buddy of his across the bar, and suddenly a young couple, both covered in tattoos, appeared next to us. “He fucking punked me,” Ayn’s frat-boy-like friend called out as he put his arm around Ayn, while his sizable partner sizzled up to Mrs. Rand. Both of them had a look I have never seen on land—their eyes projecting absence and enmity in equal measure. In the ’90s, I drank with Russian soldiers fresh from Chechnya and wandered the streets of wartime Zagreb, but I have never seen such undisguised hostility toward both me and perhaps the universe at large. I was briefly introduced to this psychopathic pair, but neither of them wanted to have anything to do with me, and the tattooed woman would not even reveal her Christian name to me (she pretended to have the same first name as Mrs. Rand). To impress his tattooed friends, Ayn made fun of the fact that as a television writer, I’d worked on the series Succession (which, it would turn out, practically nobody on the ship had watched), instead of the far more palatable, in his eyes, zombie drama of last year. And then my new friends drifted away from me into an angry private conversation—“He punked me!”—as I ordered another drink for myself, scared of the dead-eyed arrivals whose gaze never registered in the dim wattage of the Schooner Bar, whose terrifying voices and hollow laughs grated like unoiled gears against the crooning of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.”

But today is a new day for me and my hangover. After breakfast, I explore the ship’s so-called neighborhoods . There’s the AquaDome, where one can find a food hall and an acrobatic sound-and-light aquatic show. Central Park has a premium steak house, a sushi joint, and a used Rolex that can be bought for $8,000 on land here proudly offered at $17,000. There’s the aforementioned Royal Promenade, where I had drunk with the Rands, and where a pair of dueling pianos duel well into the night. There’s Surfside, a kids’ neighborhood full of sugary garbage, which looks out onto the frothy trail that the behemoth leaves behind itself. Thrill Island refers to the collection of tubes that clutter the ass of the ship and offer passengers six waterslides and a surfing simulation. There’s the Hideaway, an adult zone that plays music from a vomit-slathered, Brit-filled Alicante nightclub circa 1996 and proves a big favorite with groups of young Latin American customers. And, most hurtfully, there’s the Suite Neighborhood.

I say hurtfully because as a Suite passenger I should be here, though my particular suite is far from the others. Whereas I am stuck amid the riffraff of Deck 11, this section is on the highborn Decks 16 and 17, and in passing, I peek into the spacious, tall-ceilinged staterooms from the hallway, dazzled by the glint of the waves and sun. For $75,000, one multifloor suite even comes with its own slide between floors, so that a family may enjoy this particular terror in private. There is a quiet splendor to the Suite Neighborhood. I see fewer stickers and signs and drawings than in my own neighborhood—for example, MIKE AND DIANA PROUDLY SERVED U.S. MARINE CORPS RETIRED . No one here needs to announce their branch of service or rank; they are simply Suites, and this is where they belong. Once again, despite my hard work and perseverance, I have been disallowed from the true American elite. Once again, I am “Not our class, dear.” I am reminded of watching The Love Boat on my grandmother’s Zenith, which either was given to her or we found in the trash (I get our many malfunctioning Zeniths confused) and whose tube got so hot, I would put little chunks of government cheese on a thin tissue atop it to give our welfare treat a pleasant, Reagan-era gooeyness. I could not understand English well enough then to catch the nuances of that seafaring program, but I knew that there were differences in the status of the passengers, and that sometimes those differences made them sad. Still, this ship, this plenty—every few steps, there are complimentary nachos or milkshakes or gyros on offer—was the fatty fuel of my childhood dreams. If only I had remained a child.

I walk around the outdoor decks looking for company. There is a middle-aged African American couple who always seem to be asleep in each other’s arms, probably exhausted from the late capitalism they regularly encounter on land. There is far more diversity on this ship than I expected. Many couples are a testament to Loving v. Virginia , and there is a large group of folks whose T-shirts read MELANIN AT SEA / IT’S THE MELANIN FOR ME . I smile when I see them, but then some young kids from the group makes Mr. Washy Washy do a cruel, caricatured “Burger Dance” (today he is in his burger getup), and I think, Well, so much for intersectionality .

At the infinity pool on Deck 17, I spot some elderly women who could be ethnic and from my part of the world, and so I jump in. I am proved correct! Many of them seem to be originally from Queens (“Corona was still great when it was all Italian”), though they are now spread across the tristate area. We bond over the way “Ron-kon-koma” sounds when announced in Penn Station.

“Everyone is here for a different reason,” one of them tells me. She and her ex-husband last sailed together four years ago to prove to themselves that their marriage was truly over. Her 15-year-old son lost his virginity to “an Irish young lady” while their ship was moored in Ravenna, Italy. The gaggle of old-timers competes to tell me their favorite cruising stories and tips. “A guy proposed in Central Park a couple of years ago”—many Royal Caribbean ships apparently have this ridiculous communal area—“and she ran away screaming!” “If you’re diamond-class, you get four drinks for free.” “A different kind of passenger sails out of Bayonne.” (This, perhaps, is racially coded.) “Sometimes, if you tip the bartender $5, your next drink will be free.”

“Everyone’s here for a different reason,” the woman whose marriage ended on a cruise tells me again. “Some people are here for bad reasons—the drinkers and the gamblers. Some people are here for medical reasons.” I have seen more than a few oxygen tanks and at least one woman clearly undergoing very serious chemo. Some T-shirts celebrate good news about a cancer diagnosis. This might be someone’s last cruise or week on Earth. For these women, who have spent months, if not years, at sea, cruising is a ritual as well as a life cycle: first love, last love, marriage, divorce, death.

Read: The last place on Earth any tourist should go

I have talked with these women for so long, tonight I promise myself that after a sad solitary dinner I will not try to seek out company at the bars in the mall or the adult-themed Hideaway. I have enough material to fulfill my duties to this publication. As I approach my orphaned suite, I run into the aggro young people who stole Mr. and Mrs. Rand away from me the night before. The tattooed apparitions pass me without a glance. She is singing something violent about “Stuttering Stanley” (a character in a popular horror movie, as I discover with my complimentary VOOM SM Surf & Stream Internet at Sea) and he’s loudly shouting about “all the money I’ve lost,” presumably at the casino in the bowels of the ship.

So these bent psychos out of a Cormac McCarthy novel are angrily inhabiting my deck. As I mewl myself to sleep, I envision a limited series for HBO or some other streamer, a kind of low-rent White Lotus , where several aggressive couples conspire to throw a shy intellectual interloper overboard. I type the scenario into my phone. As I fall asleep, I think of what the woman who recently divorced her husband and whose son became a man through the good offices of the Irish Republic told me while I was hoisting myself out of the infinity pool. “I’m here because I’m an explorer. I’m here because I’m trying something new.” What if I allowed myself to believe in her fantasy?

“YOU REALLY STARTED AT THE TOP,” they tell me. I’m at the Coastal Kitchen for my eggs and corned-beef hash, and the maître d’ has slotted me in between two couples. Fueled by coffee or perhaps intrigued by my relative youth, they strike up a conversation with me. As always, people are shocked that this is my first cruise. They contrast the Icon favorably with all the preceding liners in the Royal Caribbean fleet, usually commenting on the efficiency of the elevators that hurl us from deck to deck (as in many large corporate buildings, the elevators ask you to choose a floor and then direct you to one of many lifts). The couple to my right, from Palo Alto—he refers to his “porn mustache” and calls his wife “my cougar” because she is two years older—tell me they are “Pandemic Pinnacles.”

This is the day that my eyes will be opened. Pinnacles , it is explained to me over translucent cantaloupe, have sailed with Royal Caribbean for 700 ungodly nights. Pandemic Pinnacles took advantage of the two-for-one accrual rate of Pinnacle points during the pandemic, when sailing on a cruise ship was even more ill-advised, to catapult themselves into Pinnacle status.

Because of the importance of the inaugural voyage of the world’s largest cruise liner, more than 200 Pinnacles are on this ship, a startling number, it seems. Mrs. Palo Alto takes out a golden badge that I have seen affixed over many a breast, which reads CROWN AND ANCHOR SOCIETY along with her name. This is the coveted badge of the Pinnacle. “You should hear all the whining in Guest Services,” her husband tells me. Apparently, the Pinnacles who are not also Suites like us are all trying to use their status to get into Coastal Kitchen, our elite restaurant. Even a Pinnacle needs to be a Suite to access this level of corned-beef hash.

“We’re just baby Pinnacles,” Mrs. Palo Alto tells me, describing a kind of internal class struggle among the Pinnacle elite for ever higher status.

And now I understand what the maître d’ was saying to me on the first day of my cruise. He wasn’t saying “ pendejo .” He was saying “Pinnacle.” The dining room was for Pinnacles only, all those older people rolling in like the tide on their motorized scooters.

And now I understand something else: This whole thing is a cult. And like most cults, it can’t help but mirror the endless American fight for status. Like Keith Raniere’s NXIVM, where different-colored sashes were given out to connote rank among Raniere’s branded acolytes, this is an endless competition among Pinnacles, Suites, Diamond-Plusers, and facing-the-mall, no-balcony purple SeaPass Card peasants, not to mention the many distinctions within each category. The more you cruise, the higher your status. No wonder a section of the Royal Promenade is devoted to getting passengers to book their next cruise during the one they should be enjoying now. No wonder desperate Royal Caribbean offers (“FINAL HOURS”) crowded my email account weeks before I set sail. No wonder the ship’s jewelry store, the Royal Bling, is selling a $100,000 golden chalice that will entitle its owner to drink free on Royal Caribbean cruises for life. (One passenger was already gaming out whether her 28-year-old son was young enough to “just about earn out” on the chalice or if that ship had sailed.) No wonder this ship was sold out months before departure , and we had to pay $19,000 for a horrid suite away from the Suite Neighborhood. No wonder the most mythical hero of Royal Caribbean lore is someone named Super Mario, who has cruised so often, he now has his own working desk on many ships. This whole experience is part cult, part nautical pyramid scheme.

From the June 2014 issue: Ship of wonks

“The toilets are amazing,” the Palo Altos are telling me. “One flush and you’re done.” “They don’t understand how energy-efficient these ships are,” the husband of the other couple is telling me. “They got the LNG”—liquefied natural gas, which is supposed to make the Icon a boon to the environment (a concept widely disputed and sometimes ridiculed by environmentalists).

But I’m thinking along a different line of attack as I spear my last pallid slice of melon. For my streaming limited series, a Pinnacle would have to get killed by either an outright peasant or a Suite without an ocean view. I tell my breakfast companions my idea.

“Oh, for sure a Pinnacle would have to be killed,” Mr. Palo Alto, the Pandemic Pinnacle, says, touching his porn mustache thoughtfully as his wife nods.

“THAT’S RIGHT, IT’S your time, buddy!” Hubert, my fun-loving Panamanian cabin attendant, shouts as I step out of my suite in a robe. “Take it easy, buddy!”

I have come up with a new dressing strategy. Instead of trying to impress with my choice of T-shirts, I have decided to start wearing a robe, as one does at a resort property on land, with a proper spa and hammam. The response among my fellow cruisers has been ecstatic. “Look at you in the robe!” Mr. Rand cries out as we pass each other by the Thrill Island aqua park. “You’re living the cruise life! You know, you really drank me under the table that night.” I laugh as we part ways, but my soul cries out, Please spend more time with me, Mr. and Mrs. Rand; I so need the company .

In my white robe, I am a stately presence, a refugee from a better limited series, a one-man crossover episode. (Only Suites are granted these robes to begin with.) Today, I will try many of the activities these ships have on offer to provide their clientele with a sense of never-ceasing motion. Because I am already at Thrill Island, I decide to climb the staircase to what looks like a mast on an old-fashioned ship (terrified, because I am afraid of heights) to try a ride called “Storm Chasers,” which is part of the “Category 6” water park, named in honor of one of the storms that may someday do away with the Port of Miami entirely. Storm Chasers consists of falling from the “mast” down a long, twisting neon tube filled with water, like being the camera inside your own colonoscopy, as you hold on to the handles of a mat, hoping not to die. The tube then flops you down headfirst into a trough of water, a Royal Caribbean baptism. It both knocks my breath out and makes me sad.

In keeping with the aquatic theme, I attend a show at the AquaDome. To the sound of “Live and Let Die,” a man in a harness gyrates to and fro in the sultry air. I saw something very similar in the back rooms of the famed Berghain club in early-aughts Berlin. Soon another harnessed man is gyrating next to the first. Ja , I think to myself, I know how this ends. Now will come the fisting , natürlich . But the show soon devolves into the usual Marvel-film-grade nonsense, with too much light and sound signifying nichts . If any fisting is happening, it is probably in the Suite Neighborhood, inside a cabin marked with an upside-down pineapple, which I understand means a couple are ready to swing, and I will see none of it.

I go to the ice show, which is a kind of homage—if that’s possible—to the periodic table, done with the style and pomp and masterful precision that would please the likes of Kim Jong Un, if only he could afford Royal Caribbean talent. At one point, the dancers skate to the theme song of Succession . “See that!” I want to say to my fellow Suites—at “cultural” events, we have a special section reserved for us away from the commoners—“ Succession ! It’s even better than the zombie show! Open your minds!”

Finally, I visit a comedy revue in an enormous and too brightly lit version of an “intimate,” per Royal Caribbean literature, “Manhattan comedy club.” Many of the jokes are about the cruising life. “I’ve lived on ships for 20 years,” one of the middle-aged comedians says. “I can only see so many Filipino homosexuals dressed as a taco.” He pauses while the audience laughs. “I am so fired tonight,” he says. He segues into a Trump impression and then Biden falling asleep at the microphone, which gets the most laughs. “Anyone here from Fort Leonard Wood?” another comedian asks. Half the crowd seems to cheer. As I fall asleep that night, I realize another connection I have failed to make, and one that may explain some of the diversity on this vessel—many of its passengers have served in the military.

As a coddled passenger with a suite, I feel like I am starting to understand what it means to have a rank and be constantly reminded of it. There are many espresso makers , I think as I look across the expanse of my officer-grade quarters before closing my eyes, but this one is mine .

A shocking sight greets me beyond the pools of Deck 17 as I saunter over to the Coastal Kitchen for my morning intake of slightly sour Americanos. A tiny city beneath a series of perfectly pressed green mountains. Land! We have docked for a brief respite in Basseterre, the capital of St. Kitts and Nevis. I wolf down my egg scramble to be one of the first passengers off the ship. Once past the gangway, I barely refrain from kissing the ground. I rush into the sights and sounds of this scruffy island city, sampling incredible conch curry and buckets of non-Starbucks coffee. How wonderful it is to be where God intended humans to be: on land. After all, I am neither a fish nor a mall rat. This is my natural environment. Basseterre may not be Havana, but there are signs of human ingenuity and desire everywhere you look. The Black Table Grill Has been Relocated to Soho Village, Market Street, Directly Behind of, Gary’s Fruits and Flower Shop. Signed. THE PORK MAN reads a sign stuck to a wall. Now, that is how you write a sign. A real sign, not the come-ons for overpriced Rolexes that blink across the screens of the Royal Promenade.

“Hey, tie your shoestring!” a pair of laughing ladies shout to me across the street.

“Thank you!” I shout back. Shoestring! “Thank you very much.”

A man in Independence Square Park comes by and asks if I want to play with his monkey. I haven’t heard that pickup line since the Penn Station of the 1980s. But then he pulls a real monkey out of a bag. The monkey is wearing a diaper and looks insane. Wonderful , I think, just wonderful! There is so much life here. I email my editor asking if I can remain on St. Kitts and allow the Icon to sail off into the horizon without me. I have even priced a flight home at less than $300, and I have enough material from the first four days on the cruise to write the entire story. “It would be funny …” my editor replies. “Now get on the boat.”

As I slink back to the ship after my brief jailbreak, the locals stand under umbrellas to gaze at and photograph the boat that towers over their small capital city. The limousines of the prime minister and his lackeys are parked beside the gangway. St. Kitts, I’ve been told, is one of the few islands that would allow a ship of this size to dock.

“We hear about all the waterslides,” a sweet young server in one of the cafés told me. “We wish we could go on the ship, but we have to work.”

“I want to stay on your island,” I replied. “I love it here.”

But she didn’t understand how I could possibly mean that.

“WASHY, WASHY, so you don’t get stinky, stinky!” kids are singing outside the AquaDome, while their adult minders look on in disapproval, perhaps worried that Mr. Washy Washy is grooming them into a life of gayness. I heard a southern couple skip the buffet entirely out of fear of Mr. Washy Washy.

Meanwhile, I have found a new watering hole for myself, the Swim & Tonic, the biggest swim-up bar on any cruise ship in the world. Drinking next to full-size, nearly naked Americans takes away one’s own self-consciousness. The men have curvaceous mom bodies. The women are equally un-shy about their sprawling physiques.

Today I’ve befriended a bald man with many children who tells me that all of the little trinkets that Royal Caribbean has left us in our staterooms and suites are worth a fortune on eBay. “Eighty dollars for the water bottle, 60 for the lanyard,” the man says. “This is a cult.”

“Tell me about it,” I say. There is, however, a clientele for whom this cruise makes perfect sense. For a large middle-class family (he works in “supply chains”), seven days in a lower-tier cabin—which starts at $1,800 a person—allow the parents to drop off their children in Surfside, where I imagine many young Filipina crew members will take care of them, while the parents are free to get drunk at a swim-up bar and maybe even get intimate in their cabin. Cruise ships have become, for a certain kind of hardworking family, a form of subsidized child care.

There is another man I would like to befriend at the Swim & Tonic, a tall, bald fellow who is perpetually inebriated and who wears a necklace studded with little rubber duckies in sunglasses, which, I am told, is a sort of secret handshake for cruise aficionados. Tomorrow, I will spend more time with him, but first the ship docks at St. Thomas, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Charlotte Amalie, the capital, is more charming in name than in presence, but I still all but jump off the ship to score a juicy oxtail and plantains at the well-known Petite Pump Room, overlooking the harbor. From one of the highest points in the small city, the Icon of the Seas appears bigger than the surrounding hills.

I usually tan very evenly, but something about the discombobulation of life at sea makes me forget the regular application of sunscreen. As I walk down the streets of Charlotte Amalie in my fluorescent Icon of the Seas cap, an old Rastafarian stares me down. “Redneck,” he hisses.

“No,” I want to tell him, as I bring a hand up to my red neck, “that’s not who I am at all. On my island, Mannahatta, as Whitman would have it, I am an interesting person living within an engaging artistic milieu. I do not wish to use the Caribbean as a dumping ground for the cruise-ship industry. I love the work of Derek Walcott. You don’t understand. I am not a redneck. And if I am, they did this to me.” They meaning Royal Caribbean? Its passengers? The Rands?

“They did this to me!”

Back on the Icon, some older matrons are muttering about a run-in with passengers from the Celebrity cruise ship docked next to us, the Celebrity Apex. Although Celebrity Cruises is also owned by Royal Caribbean, I am made to understand that there is a deep fratricidal beef between passengers of the two lines. “We met a woman from the Apex,” one matron says, “and she says it was a small ship and there was nothing to do. Her face was as tight as a 19-year-old’s, she had so much surgery.” With those words, and beneath a cloudy sky, humidity shrouding our weathered faces and red necks, we set sail once again, hopefully in the direction of home.

THERE ARE BARELY 48 HOURS LEFT to the cruise, and the Icon of the Seas’ passengers are salty. They know how to work the elevators. They know the Washy Washy song by heart. They understand that the chicken gyro at “Feta Mediterranean,” in the AquaDome Market, is the least problematic form of chicken on the ship.

The passengers have shed their INAUGURAL CRUISE T-shirts and are now starting to evince political opinions. There are caps pledging to make America great again and T-shirts that celebrate words sometimes attributed to Patrick Henry: “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people; it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government.” With their preponderance of FAMILY FLAG FAITH FRIENDS FIREARMS T-shirts, the tables by the crepe station sometimes resemble the Capitol Rotunda on January 6. The Real Anthony Fauci , by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., appears to be a popular form of literature, especially among young men with very complicated versions of the American flag on their T-shirts. Other opinions blend the personal and the political. “Someone needs to kill Washy guy, right?” a well-dressed man in the elevator tells me, his gray eyes radiating nothing. “Just beat him to death. Am I right?” I overhear the male member of a young couple whisper, “There goes that freak” as I saunter by in my white spa robe, and I decide to retire it for the rest of the cruise.

I visit the Royal Bling to see up close the $100,000 golden chalice that entitles you to free drinks on Royal Caribbean forever. The pleasant Serbian saleslady explains that the chalice is actually gold-plated and covered in white zirconia instead of diamonds, as it would otherwise cost $1 million. “If you already have everything,” she explains, “this is one more thing you can get.”

I believe that anyone who works for Royal Caribbean should be entitled to immediate American citizenship. They already speak English better than most of the passengers and, per the Serbian lady’s sales pitch above, better understand what America is as well. Crew members like my Panamanian cabin attendant seem to work 24 hours a day. A waiter from New Delhi tells me that his contract is six months and three weeks long. After a cruise ends, he says, “in a few hours, we start again for the next cruise.” At the end of the half a year at sea, he is allowed a two-to-three-month stay at home with his family. As of 2019, the median income for crew members was somewhere in the vicinity of $20,000, according to a major business publication. Royal Caribbean would not share the current median salary for its crew members, but I am certain that it amounts to a fraction of the cost of a Royal Bling gold-plated, zirconia-studded chalice.

And because most of the Icon’s hyper-sanitized spaces are just a frittata away from being a Delta lounge, one forgets that there are actual sailors on this ship, charged with the herculean task of docking it in port. “Having driven 100,000-ton aircraft carriers throughout my career,” retired Admiral James G. Stavridis, the former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, writes to me, “I’m not sure I would even know where to begin with trying to control a sea monster like this one nearly three times the size.” (I first met Stavridis while touring Army bases in Germany more than a decade ago.)

Today, I decide to head to the hot tub near Swim & Tonic, where some of the ship’s drunkest reprobates seem to gather (the other tubs are filled with families and couples). The talk here, like everywhere else on the ship, concerns football, a sport about which I know nothing. It is apparent that four teams have recently competed in some kind of finals for the year, and that two of them will now face off in the championship. Often when people on the Icon speak, I will try to repeat the last thing they said with a laugh or a nod of disbelief. “Yes, 20-yard line! Ha!” “Oh my God, of course, scrimmage.”

Soon we are joined in the hot tub by the late-middle-age drunk guy with the duck necklace. He is wearing a bucket hat with the legend HAWKEYES , which, I soon gather, is yet another football team. “All right, who turned me in?” Duck Necklace says as he plops into the tub beside us. “I get a call in the morning,” he says. “It’s security. Can you come down to the dining room by 10 a.m.? You need to stay away from the members of this religious family.” Apparently, the gregarious Duck Necklace had photobombed the wrong people. There are several families who present as evangelical Christians or practicing Muslims on the ship. One man, evidently, was not happy that Duck Necklace had made contact with his relatives. “It’s because of religious stuff; he was offended. I put my arm around 20 people a day.”

Everyone laughs. “They asked me three times if I needed medication,” he says of the security people who apparently interrogated him in full view of others having breakfast.

Another hot-tub denizen suggests that he should have asked for fentanyl. After a few more drinks, Duck Necklace begins to muse about what it would be like to fall off the ship. “I’m 62 and I’m ready to go,” he says. “I just don’t want a shark to eat me. I’m a huge God guy. I’m a Bible guy. There’s some Mayan theory squaring science stuff with religion. There is so much more to life on Earth.” We all nod into our Red Stripes.

“I never get off the ship when we dock,” he says. He tells us he lost $6,000 in the casino the other day. Later, I look him up, and it appears that on land, he’s a financial adviser in a crisp gray suit, probably a pillar of his North Chicago community.

THE OCEAN IS TEEMING with fascinating life, but on the surface it has little to teach us. The waves come and go. The horizon remains ever far away.

I am constantly told by my fellow passengers that “everybody here has a story.” Yes, I want to reply, but everybody everywhere has a story. You, the reader of this essay, have a story, and yet you’re not inclined to jump on a cruise ship and, like Duck Necklace, tell your story to others at great pitch and volume. Maybe what they’re saying is that everybody on this ship wants to have a bigger, more coherent, more interesting story than the one they’ve been given. Maybe that’s why there’s so much signage on the doors around me attesting to marriages spent on the sea. Maybe that’s why the Royal Caribbean newsletter slipped under my door tells me that “this isn’t a vacation day spent—it’s bragging rights earned.” Maybe that’s why I’m so lonely.

Today is a big day for Icon passengers. Today the ship docks at Royal Caribbean’s own Bahamian island, the Perfect Day at CocoCay. (This appears to be the actual name of the island.) A comedian at the nightclub opined on what his perfect day at CocoCay would look like—receiving oral sex while learning that his ex-wife had been killed in a car crash (big laughter). But the reality of the island is far less humorous than that.

One of the ethnic tristate ladies in the infinity pool told me that she loved CocoCay because it had exactly the same things that could be found on the ship itself. This proves to be correct. It is like the Icon, but with sand. The same tired burgers, the same colorful tubes conveying children and water from Point A to B. The same swim-up bar at its Hideaway ($140 for admittance, no children allowed; Royal Caribbean must be printing money off its clientele). “There was almost a fight at The Wizard of Oz ,” I overhear an elderly woman tell her companion on a chaise lounge. Apparently one of the passengers began recording Royal Caribbean’s intellectual property and “three guys came after him.”

I walk down a pathway to the center of the island, where a sign reads DO NOT ENTER: YOU HAVE REACHED THE BOUNDARY OF ADVENTURE . I hear an animal scampering in the bushes. A Royal Caribbean worker in an enormous golf cart soon chases me down and takes me back to the Hideaway, where I run into Mrs. Rand in a bikini. She becomes livid telling me about an altercation she had the other day with a woman over a towel and a deck chair. We Suites have special towel privileges; we do not have to hand over our SeaPass Card to score a towel. But the Rands are not Suites. “People are so entitled here,” Mrs. Rand says. “It’s like the airport with all its classes.” “You see,” I want to say, “this is where your husband’s love of Ayn Rand runs into the cruelties and arbitrary indignities of unbridled capitalism.” Instead we make plans to meet for a final drink in the Schooner Bar tonight (the Rands will stand me up).

Back on the ship, I try to do laps, but the pool (the largest on any cruise ship, naturally) is fully trashed with the detritus of American life: candy wrappers, a slowly dissolving tortilla chip, napkins. I take an extra-long shower in my suite, then walk around the perimeter of the ship on a kind of exercise track, past all the alluring lifeboats in their yellow-and-white livery. Maybe there is a dystopian angle to the HBO series that I will surely end up pitching, one with shades of WALL-E or Snowpiercer . In a collapsed world, a Royal Caribbean–like cruise liner sails from port to port, collecting new shipmates and supplies in exchange for the precious energy it has on board. (The actual Icon features a new technology that converts passengers’ poop into enough energy to power the waterslides . In the series, this shitty technology would be greatly expanded.) A very young woman (18? 19?), smart and lonely, who has only known life on the ship, walks along the same track as I do now, contemplating jumping off into the surf left by its wake. I picture reusing Duck Necklace’s words in the opening shot of the pilot. The girl is walking around the track, her eyes on the horizon; maybe she’s highborn—a Suite—and we hear the voice-over: “I’m 19 and I’m ready to go. I just don’t want a shark to eat me.”

Before the cruise is finished, I talk to Mr. Washy Washy, or Nielbert of the Philippines. He is a sweet, gentle man, and I thank him for the earworm of a song he has given me and for keeping us safe from the dreaded norovirus. “This is very important to me, getting people to wash their hands,” he tells me in his burger getup. He has dreams, as an artist and a performer, but they are limited in scope. One day he wants to dress up as a piece of bacon for the morning shift.

THE MAIDEN VOYAGE OF THE TITANIC (the Icon of the Seas is five times as large as that doomed vessel) at least offered its passengers an exciting ending to their cruise, but when I wake up on the eighth day, all I see are the gray ghosts that populate Miami’s condo skyline. Throughout my voyage, my writer friends wrote in to commiserate with me. Sloane Crosley, who once covered a three-day spa mini-cruise for Vogue , tells me she felt “so very alone … I found it very untethering.” Gideon Lewis-Kraus writes in an Instagram comment: “When Gary is done I think it’s time this genre was taken out back and shot.” And he is right. To badly paraphrase Adorno: After this, no more cruise stories. It is unfair to put a thinking person on a cruise ship. Writers typically have difficult childhoods, and it is cruel to remind them of the inherent loneliness that drove them to writing in the first place. It is also unseemly to write about the kind of people who go on cruises. Our country does not provide the education and upbringing that allow its citizens an interior life. For the creative class to point fingers at the large, breasty gentlemen adrift in tortilla-chip-laden pools of water is to gather a sour harvest of low-hanging fruit.

A day or two before I got off the ship, I decided to make use of my balcony, which I had avoided because I thought the view would only depress me further. What I found shocked me. My suite did not look out on Central Park after all. This entire time, I had been living in the ship’s Disneyland, Surfside, the neighborhood full of screaming toddlers consuming milkshakes and candy. And as I leaned out over my balcony, I beheld a slight vista of the sea and surf that I thought I had been missing. It had been there all along. The sea was frothy and infinite and blue-green beneath the span of a seagull’s wing. And though it had been trod hard by the world’s largest cruise ship, it remained.

This article appears in the May 2024 print edition with the headline “A Meatball at Sea.” When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic.

Watch our Memorial Day tribute to the military who sacrificed all to serve their country

Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer. It's a time to gather with friends and family for a grill out, a picnic, or maybe a trip to the beach to soak up the sun. But while it may well feel like a day of celebration, what sometimes gets forgotten is that it was conceived as a day of commemoration for the brave military members who died serving their country.  

A University of Phoenix survey found that less than half of Americans polled knew the exact purpose of Memorial Day, while around a third were unsure of the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

To clarify, Veterans Day, which takes place in November, is a tribute to all those who served honorably in the military in wartime or peacetime, whether living or dead.

The confusion is compounded by Armed Forces Day, a military celebration held in May for those currently serving. However, while the reasons differ, the sentiment of each day is the same: all three are important opportunities to show gratitude.

So, when you chow down on that hot dog, barrel down that slip 'n slide, or whatever you do for fun this Memorial Day, spare a moment to acknowledge the people in uniform whose sacrifice made a difference.

On this Memorial Day, watch the video for a surprise reunion of battle buddies bonded by the loss of their leade r

Humankind is your go-to spot for good news! Click here to submit your uplifting, cute, or inspiring video moments for us to feature. Also, click here to subscribe to our newsletter , bringing our top stories of the week straight to your inbox.

31 families remember loved ones at Rockford homicide victim memorial

MACHESNEY PARK, Ill. (WIFR) - It’s a night 31 families don’t want to be a part of, but some involved say being in this group is the only way they’ve been able to cope with losing their loved one from gun violence.

Families at Wednesday’s 20th Annual Carol McFeggan Homicide Victim Memorial say this is something they look forward to every year because it helps them heal and remember they are not alone.

It’s a powerful and emotional evening for 31 Rockford area families who light a candle in memory of their loved one lost to gun violence. One of those individuals is Bonnie Butera, whose son Jeremy was killed on Aug. 16, 2008.

”My son was worth something. He deserves to be known,” says Butera. “Today I lit the candle, and I said maybe next year, babe, I will be telling you whoever did this to you is paying for what they did to you.”

Mary Sargent’s niece Teresa Lynette Wiley was killed on Jan. 31, 2016. She appreciates this memorial as a way to keep their loved one’s legacy alive.

“It also helps us to understand that things in life is never promised. And work within a system to get justice for our family members.”

Two decades ago Carol McFeggan started this memorial with several others, it was renamed in honor of Carol after she was killed by her husband in 2009.

“Carol was the star of the show. Anybody that came to this store loved her. She knew what to say and how to help, so I know she’d be very proud,” says memorial co-creator Barb Stone.

“It’s something nobody wants to be a part of, and then just having other people who understand their pain are just, I think, very helpful,” says Victim Service Provider Savannah Myers.

Those attending Wednesday’s memorial are part of the Rockford homicide survivors support group that meets monthly at the Winnebago County State’s Attorney’s Office.

A scholarship fund for Auburn High School students was created in honor of Carol in September 2023. She was a receptionist at the school.

Copyright 2024 WIFR. All rights reserved.

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How to Memorise Paragraphs

Last Updated: May 7, 2024

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 14 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has been viewed 164,195 times. Learn more...

This is a simple way to learn long paragraphs for any occasion. It helps to learn speeches for presentations, lines for plays or answers to questions in language speaking exams.

Community Q&A

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• Once you know a phrase highlight it. Thanks Helpful 28 Not Helpful 8
• Try learning five phrases, go to do something completely different for twenty minutes, then come back and test your knowledge of the five phrases before learning the next few. Thanks Helpful 20 Not Helpful 11
• Hand-writing the paragraph can also help you remember it. Thanks Helpful 6 Not Helpful 2

• This technique won't work for everyone and it also depends on the size of the script. Thanks Helpful 69 Not Helpful 29

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• ↑ https://www.theclassroom.com/memorize-long-passages-12148758.html
• ↑ https://www.stevenaitchison.co.uk/how-to-memorise-an-entire-essay-or-speech/
• ↑ https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/backstage-experts-answer-ways-quickly-memorize-lines-6719/

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How to Stay Up All Night and Avoid Feeling Sleepy

Consume caffeine.

• Have a Snack
• Avoid Substances

What About Stimulants?

Staying up all night is something most people have done from time to time. Though not ideal, an occasional all-nighter is sometimes necessary.

Drinking coffee, bright lighting, and keeping active are a few things that can help you stay up all night.

This article explains how to stay up all night. It provides tips for keeping alert in the wee hours of the morning. It also details things you should not do when trying to stay up for 24 hours or more.

Click Play to Learn How to Stay Up Late

This video has been medically reviewed by Chris Vincent, MD .

Is Staying Up All Night OK?

Research shows staying up all night may:

• Cause impairments similar to being drunk
• Diminish attention span and concentration
• Increase anxiety
• Reduce strength and endurance

These problems typically resolve within a day or two of getting adequate sleep.

Stock Up on Sleep

It will be much easier to stay up late at night if you don’t have a sleep debt . If you are already tired because you’re short on quality sleep, you will have a harder time staying up late.

Most people are awake for about 16 hours in a 24-hour period. If you sleep in a little longer in the morning—one to two hours—it might help you stay awake later at night.

If you are planning ahead for a special event, try to boost your total sleep hours the week before.

You’ll want to think about the quality of your sleep, not just the quantity. If you are not getting good quality sleep, it’s important to figure out why.

For example, a common cause of poor sleep is a condition called sleep apnea . The condition causes repeated sleep disruptions because a person is having breathing problems.

Frequent awakenings can decrease the quality of a person’s sleep. Sleep apnea can also cause daytime sleepiness .

How Much Sleep Do I Need?

Most adults need seven to nine hours of sleep to feel rested . Younger people may need even more sleep, while older adults might need less .

When you sleep, adenosine and other chemicals that cause sleepiness are cleared from your brain.

Any sleep you get during the day can help you feel less of an urge to sleep at night—what’s called your sleep drive. That’s why napping can be a good strategy.

First, you’ll need to decide how long you want to nap. The length of your nap will depend on how late you’re hoping to stay awake.

A 20- to 30-minute nap might be all your need, or you might need to nap for an hour or two.

Then, think about the timing of your nap . Try scheduling a nap for later in the day, rather than in the morning.

Caffeine has a reputation for fueling late nights—but only if it’s used the right way.

Caffeine is a natural stimulant. Foods and drinks like coffee, tea, soda, energy drinks, and chocolate have various amounts of caffeine in them.

The reason caffeine can help you stay alert is that it blocks adenosine receptors in your brain. This, in turn, reduces the signal that makes you feel sleepy.

The effects of caffeine may last six hours or more. If you use a higher dose or are sensitive to caffeine , you might feel the effects for longer.

If caffeine is overused—either because you consume too much or consume it too late in the day—it can make it harder to fall asleep when you want to . You could develop insomnia from caffeine use.

If you use caffeine too often, you could also build up a tolerance to its effects.

Should I Pull an All-Nighter or Sleep for Three Hours?

Sleep for three hours. Research shows it is better to get some sleep than no sleep at all, whether that means a 15-minute nap or three hours of shut-eye.

Have a Late-Night Snack

There is some evidence that eating late at night could help you stay awake. Some people have a midnight snack as part of their regular nighttime routine .

However, research suggests that the release of insulin that happens after you eat close to your bedtime may actually keep you awake longer.

That said, the type of food you choose can make or break your plan to stay up late.

When some people are sleep-deprived, they crave carbs or sweets. However, don’t go for a heavy meal or sugary snack, which could make you feel more sleepy.

Instead, reach for a satisfying, crunchy snack like carrots, celery sticks, or broccoli.

Avoid Alcohol and Sedatives

Certain substances can make you feel sleepy. Sometimes, this is a positive effect. However, they won’t be helpful if you’re trying to stay up late.

Alcohol might be part of a party or celebration you’re attending at night, but it could interfere with your plan to stay up.

The way that each person’s body handles and breaks down alcohol ( metabolism ) is a bit different. As a general rule, it takes about an hour to metabolize one alcoholic drink.

Consuming more alcohol may make you feel buzzed, and you may even get drunk. It’s also more likely that you’ll start to feel sleepy.

If you’re consuming alcohol, remember to pace yourself. Alternate alcoholic drinks with rounds of water to stay hydrated .

Medications

Many prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) medications have drowsiness as a side effect.

Medications like antihistamines for allergies and benzodiazepines to treat anxiety, seizures, and other disorders have sedative effects.

Heart medications that improve blood pressure and slow the heart rate (beta-blockers) can also cause fatigue.

Natural and artificial light can have powerful effects on our ability to sleep .

The brain has a complex system called the circadian rhythm (or body clock), which times our sleep and wakefulness to the natural patterns of light and darkness . You can use the pattern to your advantage to stay up a little later.

Morning sunlight can help “ night owls ” fall asleep more easily and wake to feel refreshed. On the other hand, people who fall asleep and wake early—“ morning larks ”—may benefit from evening light exposure.

Try to get outside before the sun sets to get the last glimpse of natural light. If your work continues into the night, do it in a well-lit space.

To help your body and mind get ready for sleep, try turning the lights down about an hour before you want to go to bed.

Artificial light may also help keep you awake longer—especially lightboxes that put out at least 10,000 lux of light.

On the other hand, research has shown that screen light from devices may make it harder for some people to fall asleep at night.

Stay Active

Some activities promote relaxation and sleep. If you are starting to feel tired and are getting too comfortable, there is a strong chance you’ll be out like a light in no time.

Changing positions, getting up, or walking around the room can jolt you awake if you’re on the verge of falling asleep.

To plan ahead, think about what you’re doing at times when you tend to feel relaxed.

For example, since your position can cue your body to get sleepy, you probably feel more tired when you are sitting or lying down as opposed to you’re standing or moving around.

Your environment can also have a strong influence on your desire to sleep.

If you are trying to stay awake, lying on your bed, reclining in an easy chair, or sprawling on the couch can work against you.

Instead, try sitting in a less comfortable chair, such as a stiff-backed dining chair. Passive activities—like reading rather than writing—can also make you tired.

Medications are not a substitute for getting adequate sleep. While they can keep you awake, these medications come with side effects and risks.

Stimulants like amphetamines are used to treat mental health and medical conditions like attention deficit disorder and narcolepsy .

Some people who do shift work also need to use these medications—but only under the care of a healthcare provider.

Stimulants can lead to substance use disorders , cardiac arrhythmias, weight changes, and effects on your mood.

If you need or want to stay up later than usual, there are some strategies that may help you do so safely.

Staying active, using caffeine correctly, preparing with enough quality sleep beforehand, and avoiding things that can make you sleepy (like alcohol and sedatives) can help you feel more awake and alert throughout the night.

For the safety of yourself and others, keep an eye on how you’re feeling. Never drive when you are feeling drowsy, as you could fall asleep at the wheel.

Sleep Foundation. Why are all-nighter harmful?  

National Institute on Aging. A good night's sleep .

Sleep Foundation. Adenosine and sleep .

Sleep Foundation. Caffeine and sleep .

Oriyama S, Miyakoshi Y, Rahman MM. The effects of a 120-minute nap on sleepiness, fatigue, and performance during 16-hour night shifts: A pilot study . J Occup Health . 2019;61(5):368-377. doi:10.1002/1348-9585.12063

Kinsey AW, Ormsbee MJ. The health impact of nighttime eating: old and new perspectives . Nutrients . 2015;7(4):2648-2662. doi:10.3390/nu7042648

Stanford Health Care. Bright light therapy .

Tosini G, Ferguson I, Tsubota K. Effects of blue light on the circadian system and eye physiology . Mol Vis . 2016;22:61-72.

By Brandon Peters, MD Dr. Peters is a board-certified neurologist and sleep medicine specialist and is a fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.