9
9 … Don’t
cram for exams. Successful students know that divided periods of study are more
effective than cram sessions, and they practice it.
If there is one thing that study
skills specialists agree on, it is that distributed study is better than
massed, late-night, last-ditch efforts known as cramming. You’ll learn more,
remember more, and earn a higher grade by studying in four, one hour-a-night
sessions for Friday’s exam than studying for four hours straight on Thursday night.
Short, concentrated preparatory efforts are more efficient and rewarding that
wasteful, inattentive, last moment marathons. Yet, so many students fall to
learn this lesson and end up repeating it over and over again until it becomes
a wasteful habit. Not too clever, huh?
When
you cram, you are taking the shortcut, and shortcuts never produce any real
worthwhile results. Also, when you take shortcuts, you feel rather rotten
knowing that you could have done better but didn't Shortcuts cut you short. You
can’t plant watermelon seeds and harvest fresh watermelons the next day. It takes
time. Cramming for a test or project and expecting to make a high score the
next day is like planting watermelon seeds and expecting to harvest and eat fresh
watermelon the next day. Plus cramming for a test or project doesn't help you academically, so why even do i. Plan ahead, prepare ahead. Give yourself plenty of days and weeks to prepare for upcoming accountability opportunities.