Meet the third year who wrote her entire dissertation in 18 hours and still got a 2:1

Writing your dissertation is inevitably one of the most stressful times of your entire uni life. As horrendous as it is, it’s unavoidable for the majority of degrees.

What is possible, however, is to limit the length of time for you to stress to less than 24 hours and still achieve a 2:1, as Michaela Prehn, a third year TV and Film Set Design student from the University of South Wales discovered.

Michaela spent a mere 18 hours on her dissertation and still managed to achieve an decent grade. She even admitted she was “feeling a bit tipsy at the time so it wasn’t my priority that night, which is why I’m so surprised I got a 2:1!”

Michaela claims white wine is the key to success

Originally from Nottingham, Michaela told us she decided to start her diss after she had recovered from having her appendix out, which luckily provided her with a deadline extension. She said: “After two weeks recovery I was going out with friends and family at home. I came back to Cardiff two days before it was due and decided it was time to start.”

At the time of returning, she hadn’t even finished her research for her diss, which was on Alfred Hitchcock and mise-en-scene techniques. “I had a rough idea of how I wanted it to go and a few references to put in my bibliography but definitely not enough for a dissertation!”, she told us.

“At first I was care free, I thought ‘I passed A-Level English, I can do this’, but the day before it kicked in that it’s not a normal essay, that’s when I decided to start” explains Michaela.

Across the 18 hours she slept for 20 minutes at around five in the morning before her friend Abigail woke her up to carry on.

18 hours later

Michaela’s housemate, Hannah, told The Tab: “It’s very typical for her to do an all nighter, but not leave it that late. We are a house of seven girls who were worried about how late she left it.”

Michaela said “a bottle of white wine and Smooth radio”, as well as motivational speeches from her housemates were the key to her success.

For anyone panicking that they have left their dissertation too late, Michaela advises: “Definitely don’t feel sober when you do it. You get too stressed. But don’t get too drunk that you don’t give a care. You for sure need someone there helping and cheering you on. It’s hard to do it without that support.”

Although making it look like achieving a 2:1 in your dissertation is easy, Michaela admits that if she could she would definitely go back and spend longer on it.

Still, for not having to give up going out for the months leading up to the deadline, and still getting a 2:1 you’ve got to give it to Michaela. Her friend Hannah added: “Fair play to the girl she did better than me in my dissertation!”