In 1909, parents sent Alexander to P. N. Strakhovs private Moscow gymnasium, which he graduated with honors. In 1917, he entered the natural department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Moscow University. There were no entrance exams due to the passage of the revolution. Studying in this difficult time required great self-sacrifice and fanatical dedication. They studied in unheated rooms and there was not enough laboratory equipment. Transport was bad, and sometimes Alexander had to walk on foot to the university from Sokolniki. In 1920, classes at Moscow State University were frozen due to problems with heating, and Nesmeyanov entered the Military Pedagogical Academy on Bolshaya Gruzinskaya Street. At the same time, he worked in the laboratories of the Shanyavsky Moscow City Peoples University. By the end of 1920, Alexander Nikolayevich returned to studies at the academy and at Moscow University, where heating had already been restored. He meets the "future scientific mentor", Professor N. D. Zelinsky. While he was working as a night watchman at the faculty, Nesmeyanov lived in the laboratory of N. D. Zelinsky  and devoting all his time to scientific experiments.