Let's Do This!

September 15, 2008 2:38 PM

48 Hour Qualifying Exam Tomorrow. Looking For Music To Keep Me Awake, Motivated, Positive, And Working.

At noon tomorrow I am taking my 48 hour, take home, qualifying exams in (mostly) statistics. The exam should take 35-40 hours of work.

I have studied for 3 months full time, I have everything planned out, and I am almost ready to get started. I just need one more thing: rocking music that will keep me 1) awake (I plan on sleeping only a few hours), 2) motivated, 3) thinking positive, and 4) working.

Let's see what the hivemind comes up with.

posted by chrisalbon to Media & Arts (12 answers total)

If you like techo/trance/dance, Podrunner is a medium-fast paced hour long podcast and you could download a bunch for free. Obviously intended for running/workouts but it is definitely upbeat and keeps a pace. Also there is an intervals version. Ironically, one I was listening to a few weeks ago mixed in the spoken lines in the credits for NUMB3RS. Good luck on the test!
posted by sararah at 2:51 PM on September 15, 2008

Best answer: Also my actual favorite music podcast on the planet is KEXP Music that Matters. Almost always upbeat and awesome. The only caveat here is you may want to listen to the lyrics. I usually study/mow/run/ride the bus while listening to this podcast. Also a ton of backlogged shows you can download for free, and every possible genre of music you could imagine with a heavy slant towards indie rock and bands from the Northwest. Occasional jazz/hip-hop/folky gems as well.
posted by sararah at 2:58 PM on September 15, 2008

I'm sorry that this is not an answer to your question, but have you considered the possibility that avoiding sleep in preparation for a mental activity is an extremely bad idea?
posted by Flunkie at 3:02 PM on September 15, 2008

"have you considered the possibility that avoiding sleep in preparation for a mental activity is an extremely bad idea"

It sounds like Chrisalbon is planning to not sleep much during the exam... not in advance of the exam.

I'd think hot jazz would be good for this purpose... some Dixieland, that kind of thing...

I think I'd find it hard to concentrate with metal music playing... but Drowning Pool and Metallica were reportedly used by the military for sleep deprivation... The mental message of "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" might not work for you though if your sleep-deprived mind thereby says... "ah yes, let my body hit the floor for a few minutes of rest".
posted by Jahaza at 3:09 PM on September 15, 2008

Shout Out Out Out, and their other project The Wet Secrets
posted by LobsterMitten at 3:10 PM on September 15, 2008

And do be sure to schedule in enough time for sleeping, eating, and drinking water regularly.
posted by LobsterMitten at 3:11 PM on September 15, 2008

I have personally found Flogging Molly quite helpful when I was studying for my master's exams. Fast tempo/ Drum-based Latin music can be great, too - "Matador," by Los Fabulosos Cadillacs (it plays during the credits to Grosse Point Blank), to give a well-known example.

The best song I can recommend, though is this song - it's the happiest, bounciest, cynicism-proof song I know. It's called "Show Me," by Mint Royale.
posted by queseyo at 4:28 PM on September 15, 2008 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks all! Those are some awesome suggestions.

@Queseyo: Show Me by Mint Royale will definitely be on the play list.

@sararah: Awesome suggestion. I just discovered Northwest indie music a few months ago and the thought of getting to listen to 200+ new indie songs is perfect. KEXP has so many episodes to download on iTunes, each song will only repeat once! Very cool.

Thanks again all!
posted by chrisalbon at 5:26 PM on September 15, 2008

I've never taken an exam that long, but I've had 24-hour exams before and the one thing that always helped me keep going was 90's hits. You know, "Sex and Candy," "Roll to Me," "Mr. Jones," "Semi-Charmed Life," "Hook," "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)," "Tubthumping"... I guess the effect will be lessened or absent if you weren't born within a few years of me, but if you were, well, give it a try.

And I'll say this: if you can only sleep a few hours, make it the hours that the sun is coming up. If you go to sleep when it's dark and wake up when it's light, you can kind of trick yourself into believing that you got more sleep than you actually did. Plus, there's nothing so exhausting as watching the sun rise.

Good luck!
posted by you're a kitty! at 5:56 PM on September 15, 2008

A tip that may help you keep your sanity and energy up in general: designate a handful of "Dance Break!" songs and rotate one into the mix every 2-3 hours or so. The key to maintaining your mental alertness is going to be getting up and MOVING to goofy, bouncy songs that you enjoy -- get that blood flowing back to your brain! I learned this thanks to the ever-wonderful now-Mr. S. When I was stressing out under deadlines and pushing my energy window during all-nighters, he would put on one of these songs*, turn up the volume, and yell "Dance Break!" Three to four minutes of singing and frenetic booty-shaking later, I was ready to return to the desk a bit more revived, clear-headed, and ready to go for another stretch of work to other music that is much more conducive to focused analysis and writing. Good luck!

*Some examples of what works for me probably date me a bit too easily:
- Dexy's Midnight Runners: Come on Eileen
- Katrina and the Waves: Walking on Sunshine
- Rusted Root: Send Me on My Way
- Irene Cara: What a Feeling (yes, from Fame, and yes, complete with regressing to my 11-year-old self with microphone-hairbrush in hand!)
posted by shelbaroo at 7:23 PM on September 15, 2008

My playlist of albums from a ~100-hour qualifying exam, with * for that which might be too soporific:
Air - Moon Safari*, Virgin Suicides
Aphex Twin - Classics, Richard D. James Album
The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike
John Scofield - A Go Go
Medeski Martin & Wood - Combustication, Shack Man*?
Nine Inch Nails - Ghost I-IV
Soulive - Turn It Out
!!! - Louden Up Now
posted by knile at 7:32 PM on September 15, 2008

I like to listen to Apples in Stereo's New Magnetic Wonder when doing overtired, last-minute homework. They might be too sickly-sweet for you, so you'd probably want to check out a representative track like Can You Feel It? on YouTube before getting a copy.
posted by abcde at 1:37 AM on September 16, 2008