As a university undergraduate, it gets to a point that the twelve hours of day alone do not seem sufficient to cover the workload for the semester. As a result, many students resort to sacrificing their sleep in order to cover more ground. As tests commence and examinations approach, the lecture halls get more and more crowded each night. However, not everyone actually goes for night classes for the purpose of reading or actually fulfills that purpose. Below are the different types of students that can be found in a night class. Every student, regardless of location or school, has engaged in overnight reading at some point and has encountered most, if not all, of them. Read along and see which of these categories you can identify with or have encountered at some point.
- The sleeping Jonah’s: These are arguably the most common. They come to the hall and spread out materials and textbooks. Two pages later, they’ve dozed off and don’t wake up till almost dawn the next day. It makes one wonder why they left the comfort of their beds and blankets just to sleep on cold desks, surrounded by mosquitoes and other unidentified flying insects. The funniest part is that they go back to their hostels and their friends who think they’ve been doing some serious studying all through the night start feeling oppressed.
- The mobile restaurants: These students come to the class with all sorts of foods, snacks, sweets and drinks. They claim it helps them assimilate better and spend the first two hours of their stay eating and drinking merrily. Then, after the feast is over, heavy with food, they fall asleep, snoring contentedly.
- Waka about: These ones hardly remain seated for two minutes. They always have one business or the other outside the hall, either phone calls to receive or friends to greet and can be seen walking up and down throughout the night. They are little bother unless you happen to sharing a desk with them or they make a lot of noise while shuffling back and forth.
- The pilferers. These are the gifted thieves, light fingers, Anini in the making! Their mission is to steal phones, chargers, purses, wallets and sometimes, even books and laptops. Alertness and vigilance is needed if one is to avoid falling victim. The sleepers and waka about are usually easy prey for them.
- Study group: These ones pack themselves in droves to go and read. While it is good and even advisable, for safety reasons, to have a partner or two during your overnight reading, too much of a crowd might make your night less productive. Most times, they end up talking, gisting, eating, walking about in pairs and even sleeping throughout. You’d be quite unfortunate to find yourself sitting close to them, they can be a huge distraction to themselves and others.
- Movie addicts: It can be very amusing to watch how these set of students turn night class into movie night. After few minutes of studying, they leisurely position their phones or laptops and watch movies for hours. Some even buy snacks to munch on while enjoying the movie. Not to worry though, they usually use earphones in order not to disturb others. Just be sure not to get distracted by the images you glimpse on the screens.
- Bae and boo: Watching these two, you start to wonder if they’re there for study or date night. They spend the night talking, playing and cuddling until one or both of them fall asleep. Very little reading is done and after midnight, they are gone to continue their canoodling on the road or in a more secluded place.
- Software engineers: With online classes as the new norm, this set has multiplied and it is now common to find more than ten students with laptops in a hall with properly functioning electric sockets. Most are final year students working on projects but students from other levels are not excluded as some use them for the classes or online businesses. If you fall within this category, extra caution is required to keep your laptop safe and in good condition.
- The real deal: Rounding off our list are the shanaspirins, the ones who actually fulfill the pure, original purpose of actually, you know, studying. They read all through the night till dawn the next day, only taking about very short breaks to rest. They can also be quite intimidating for some, especially when you meet them in the hall, sleep for hours, wake up and still find them reading bright-eyed.
There you have it – Nine different types of students during overnight reading. Researched and written while observing the activities live in Education topmost floor, OAU, during one of such night classes. Can you relate to any of these? Or do you know any prominent category that was left out? Let us know in the comments below.
Mofeoluwa Ade-Olufadeju writes for Inside OAU innovations
We at Trybe City wish all students success in the tests and forthcoming examinations.
