Exam Writing On Speed
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 Coolness: 91695
| It was Wednesday morning at 8AM, and eight straight hours of studying, combined with maybe six hours of sleep in the previous two days, were beginning to take their toll. I tried to look at some practice questions, but my mind was skipping all over the place, missing words and drifting off into oblivion. Worse still, in just an hour I would have to write my macro-economics exam, 150 difficult multiple choice questions in three hours of frantic HB pencil scribbling.
I had always resisted the urge to boost with amphetamines, but today I would give in. I had some extra powederized speed that I knew I wouldn't end up taking anyways, and it was calling my name. I mixed about 1/3 of a pill's worth into a bottle of juice, drank about half of it 30 minutes before the exam, and continued taking sips until I emptied the bottle about halfway through. By taking the speed in increments, I figured I could avoid too intense of a peak, while maintaining a nice, constant buzz.
It worked so well. Almost too well. My focus increased dramatically, every word on the exam seemed clear and sharp. I was able to analyze all the questions with effortless, razor-sharp precision. Moreover, on speed, writing the exam was actually fun. The excess dopamine released by the speed was boosted by a little natural release of dopamine with every answer that I knew to be correct. I was one of the few people who actually completed the exam. I'm almost positive I'm getting an "A" in that course (the exam is worth 100% of the grade) - not bad considering I didn't even attend a single class, tutorial, or review session all semester.
And that's the problem. Speed works so well, its exetrememly positiviely enforcing; ie take speed ---> get high grades easily ---> desire to take more speed. And sooner or later, too much speed ---> burnout. So next time I'll do my best to actually get some sleep the night before :) |
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 Coolness: 74095
| maybe you should just drink a lot of coffee
i dont think you should burn yourself for an exam... just to party :) |
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| you fail |
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Coolness: 91695
| too much coffee makes me really jittery
ooops i just noticed a typo..its supposed to be positively reinforcing |
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 Coolness: 194030
| i know a dude who used to pull extreme programming sessions on speed, productivity++ .. but yeah, not really worth it unless its the emergency of the year |
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 Coolness: 201230
| Dan: I hope you actually did good on the test and not just think you did thanks to artificial over-confidence :p |
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Coolness: 91695
| **Haha I was actually wondering about that myself. But in all honesty, the exam itself wasn't that difficult..for me at least :) |
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 Coolness: 121445
| Originally posted by NAILBUNNY...
Dan: I hope you actually did good on the test and not just think you did thanks to artificial over-confidence :p
i was about to say the exact same thing- tell us your mark when you get it back |
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 Coolness: 145205
| I think you could totally pull something like that of, it depends on what your attempting to do I think a math exam is perfect cause its lots of highly technical questions, so you can focus on eeach one individually without to much trouble, but I don't know if taking speed for say writting an essay format type exam would be a good idea, cause your going to have to stay coherant and actually write something thats going to flow one sentence to the next and one paragraph to the next |
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Coolness: 201230
| I have a story a guy I know from Vancouver told me... His friend was writing an english creative essay exam, and he decided that the best way to do it would be on LSD. So he went to class, wrote his essay very carefully and handed it in. Later on the teacher asked to talk to him, and showed him the exam he had written. It was just pure scribbles and gibberish. FOrtunately he was able to retake the test.
I don't know if this is a true story but it's god damn funny. |
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Coolness: 91695
| LMAO..that doesn't surprise me at all, actually. Even creative writing requires a large amount of structure and adherence to linguistic norms. And psychedelics temporarily release the mind from its conditioned ways of thinking, which means that it wouldn't be uncommon to temporarily forget all the technical aspects of writing an essay. Probably the only creative act that people have success on while actually under the influence of psychedelics is abstract art, since there aren't too many established norms that one must follow (indeed, often the goal is to produce something that is completely free of pre-existing structure). On the other hand, if you are able to jot down the ideas you have while tripping, and are able to do so in a way that at least you will be able to understand it after, then the next day is ripe for taking those ideas and expressing them within the structural model of an essay or other piece of writing. |
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 Coolness: 471810
| hard to focus on speed ...
sober way's always the best way |
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| Originally posted by ! ZE`EV ! ...
i know a dude who used to pull extreme programming sessions on speed, productivity++ .. but yeah, not really worth it unless its the emergency of the year
why would you need speed to program? if anything he wouldn't be thinking straigh and wouldn't conceptualize what he's making properly.. well unless it's some VB style thing.. |
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Coolness: 194030
| not at all, heavyweight PHP with C++
thing is, he used to pull 24hr+ coding sessions, not leaving his room aside from to grab random food from the fridge or hit the washroom. i guess speed did his focus good, on top of preventing him from wanting to sleep
he used to have bad crashes tho |
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Coolness: 201230
| Ian: speed/amphetamines can make you pretty productive, just remember those long ass essays Ben used to write that nobody understood |
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Coolness: 339670
| hahahaha, no one understood em cause he was asbracting his words too much just to make it sound more intellectual. |
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Coolness: 145205
| nerd herd!!!!! |
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Coolness: 91695
| whadayaknow, i actually DID get an A on that course! thank you speed |
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| hahaha nice! |
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| I found speed quite helpful one night when I had to write 3 essays. I found myself able to focus and think coherently. I enjoyed writing my papers and seeing the sunrise and the birds starting to sing. It was cool |
Exam Writing On Speed
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