That common scenario we’ve all seen a few days before exams – pulling an all-nighter, sitting for hours straight to literally cram all the semesters’ or years’ worth of syllabus into our minds. This is mostly accompanied with procrastinating chances to start studying from earlier periods of time. This habit, known as cramming, is a very common sworn ritual among students right from school to all the way to college. Though many students claim pulling all-nighters a night before the exam has got them good grades, psychology says cramming has its own downsides. Find out how cramming affects memory, and how you could avoid it.
Why Cramming isn’t as Effective as it Seems
The Cognitive Quirk
When you’re trying to stuff tons of information at once, the brain focuses on recognizing information, rather than remembering it. This is because you focus on reading something over and over until you feel it’s memorized, but not actually learning effectively. In other words, you’ve tricked yourself into believing that you’ve learnt something. But in reality, it’s just because you could recognize the material – a phenomenon known as the “cognitive quirk”. This is the reason why sometimes during exams the required answer doesn’t pop up, though it seems familiar.
The Spacing Effect
In basic terms, the spacing effect works this way – information learnt (or studied) in multiple, consistently increased intervals of time is better retained in the brain for longer than the same information being learnt in short period without intervals. This very popular effect discovered by Hermann Ebbinghaus, has become a common memory technique. According to Ebbinghaus’ findings, repeated exposure to any study material helps us remember it better. The brain strengthens neural connections relates to the memory, because of the repeated exposure, making it a priory. Whatever we’ve crammed into our brains is just stored in our short-term memory, rather than in our long-term memory. That is why, often after exams, when we tend to forget what we would’ve studied.
How to Avoid Cramming
Figure out how much time you need
As human beings, we have the tendency to underestimate the time needed to finish our own tasks. So, to find out how much time you really need if you start studying early and consistently, estimate the time needed. Then add 50 percent more to it. This is the actual time needed to finish your preparation.
Figure out how much time you have
Just like we underestimate the time we need, we tend to overestimate the time we could effectively and productively use. So, when you think you have about 6 hours of study time, you really have only 3 hours of effective study time. Also remember that we have repeated ultradian rhythms in our body that last for 1.5 to 2 hours. To focus properly, you need to take a break at least after every two hours.
Make & follow a schedule – No procrastination!
After you’ve figured out how much time you can allot for effective studying, make a schedule. And don’t just stop at making a schedule, make sure to follow it on a priority basis, no matter what.
Which Skill Should You Master?
The Parkinson’s Law – Setting Small Chunks of Time
“The amount of work expands to fill the period of time available for its completion” – this is a famous statement by Cyril Northcote Parkinson, a British historian and author in the 1950s. This means, for example, if you’re given a week’s time to finish a task, that actually could be done in a couple of days, it is more likely that you would take the whole week to finish it. How could you use this law to study more productively? Divide the amount of time you have into small chunks, with a fixed amount of material to finish. Make the deadlines for finishing the material in that time an unbreakable compulsion. This makes you stay more productive and focused because of the pressure to finish before the set deadline.
Add “Spacing” between revision sessions
The brain consolidates and strengthens neural connections made in the day during the REM phase of sleep. The more time you leave between revisions, the better the brain could process it. But be sure not to revise too late. With each repeated revision, the time period could be increased between the revisions. Start off with revision every alternative day, and gradually increase revision of the same to a weeks’ and months’ time.
I Want To Become Good Better Best In Life
The human brain is an extremely powerful and unique organ with so many capabilities. However, it isn’t a machine, and just like anything in nature, has its own limitations too. It is up to us decide whether we want to unlock the brain’s full potential or not. We only get a student life once to spend time just to learn. At the end, why let all the time go in vain by forgetting everything, when we’ve spent time and energy to learn it?
Frequently Asked Questions
Cramming refers to the practice of intense, last-minute studying right before an exam. While it may help in short-term memorization, it is generally not an effective study method for long-term retention and comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.
If you feel unprepared for an exam, resist the urge to cram. Instead, focus on reviewing key concepts and practicing with past papers or sample questions. Seek help from teachers or classmates if necessary and approach the exam with a calm and positive attitude.
To avoid cramming, create a study schedule well in advance of the exam. Break down the material into smaller, manageable chunks and review them regularly. This spaced repetition technique will enhance retention and understanding.
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