It’s 10:00 PM and you realize you have two tests, an essay you haven’t started, and 36 pre-calculus problems due tomorrow and the only work you have done has been mastering the broccoli crop on Farmville.

By 12:00 AM you’ve finished your math homework and the first two paragraphs of your essay. You’ve even done some studying, but you can hardly keep your eyes open. Time to decide, do you resolve to wake up early to finish writing and cramming or do you drink a “Five-Hour Energy” and stay up all night?

First, you need to improve your time management skills and productivity immensely. Try blocking distracting websites like Facebook or Twitter and shutting off your cell phone during the time you dedicate to homework. Give yourself a set amount of time to complete each assignment. If the time passes before you are able to complete it, start something else and come back to it later so you aren’t forced into monotony.

By simply staying motivated and on task you are cutting down at least an hour, if not more, of wasted time. Even with that, you still predict less than three hours of sleep in your future.

If finishing all your homework means getting only a couple hours of sleep, it’s still better than spending the school day running on empty. We all know what we sacrifice when we don’t sleep; you won’t remember as much of what you studied, feel sluggish the rest of the day, experience an inability to concentrate or retain information, not to mention the health dangers of drinking highly caffeinated beverages to stay awake.