Successful
Students
Part 9
9. … don’t cram for exams. Successful students
know that divided periods of study are more effective than crams 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 than
wasteful, inattentive, last moment marathons. Yet, so many students fail 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 it. Plan ahead, prepare ahead. Give yourself
plenty of days and weeks to prepare for upcoming accountability opportunities.
Choose
The Right!!! J
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