Image description: A header illustration featuring a tired student bundled up in the dark, with only their face and their laptop, which bears the Netflix logo, highlighted. The laptop and a bag of snacks both rest on piles of books. End ID
Image description: A header illustration featuring a tired student bundled up in the dark, with only their face and their laptop, which bears the Netflix logo, highlighted. The laptop and a bag of snacks both rest on piles of books. End ID

Illustration by Timothy Chiu

NYUAD students develop groundbreaking study method: Binge-watching Netflix the week leading up to exams

More than five reasons why watching Netflix is a much better idea than studying for that exam.

May 8, 2023

There is no remedy like Netflix.
Nothing gives you a better shot of pure dopamine than re-watching that same show you have seen too many times. Make it the night before a super important exam, and it is even better. You know that experiment where addicted rats kept pressing pedals compulsively to get dopamine shots? I relate to those rats on a deep level. I think they are a perfect representation of our deepest desire in life.
Let’s face it, every time you sit down to study for an exam, it’s 40 minutes of motivation per session and then Netflix somehow magically pops open, and calls to you irresistibility. So your study session already includes Netflix, might as well use those initial 40 minutes to cover more of the series you are going to end up watching anyway.
There are many benefits to this study method! By putting on Netflix as you read through your notes or do practice papers, you will learn how to multitask! And given how our entire lives will be spent in the endless race of who can sleep less in an effort to do more, multitasking is the most lucrative skill you can acquire for yourself. Everyone has 24 hours in the day, everyone is good at what they do, the only way you can get an edge is by taking a page out of the circus clown’s book and juggling as many tasks at the same time as you can — combine leisure with work, friends with family, and Netflix with revision!
Don’t worry, you won’t lose friends pursuing this study method over the traditional ones. Have a group bonding session, invite everyone to leave their notes and their good sense, bring their snacks, and camp out in a dorm binge-watching the entire series, and you will learn of secrets you never even knew existed amongst your friend group! There’s no one more vulnerable than stressed college students during exam week, and you would do well to exploit this to strengthen the bond with your friends!
What’s more, there’s no better way to memorize stuff than if you are interested in it. No Pomodoro, spaced repetition, mind map, highlighting, teaching yourself, note-taking technique beats the completely fool-proof study-advancement technique that is comfort watching that same show for the umpteenth time. Most of the things we all remember from school are those that intrigued us, that we actually cared to remember after we walked out of that exam room. What I’m saying is, maybe if you watch Netflix while you study, you can trick your brain into having fun memorizing everything all at once. If Pavlov’s still got it, this old type of classical conditioning should work!
You would not only be helping yourselves, by spending countless hours watching Netflix, you would be paying someone’s salary! Netflix wouldn’t exist without viewers like university students, who invest hours upon hours of their precious time watching, binge-watching, re-watching, stress watching and leisure watching Netflix’s shows, movies, documentaries, specials-everything and anything it has to offer. Although we do need it just as much as it needs us, imagine what we would do with all the free time and fresh brain space if Netflix ceased to exist?
(P.S. I’m not being discriminatory, this study method applies to those that pirate their shows as well, you don’t have to pay multinational corporations to fail your exams.)
Got an exam soon? Watch Netflix, and maybe you can coerce your brain into actually trying to remember something after.
Seriously, a new prequel spin-off of Bridgerton is out now! Go go go!
Tiesta Dangwal is Deputy Features Editor. Email them at feedback@thegazelle.org
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